Transatlantic Bomba: Machete Kisumontao  Gena arrives at Beehive
in the South Side in yoga gear, her yard-long dreads tied back
with a headband, and immediately orders a huge chai latte.
 She’s like a firecracker, shooting notes off and laughing
between sips of her fuel.  Originally from a small town in
Northwest Puerto Rico, the frontwoman of Machete-Kisumontao was
raised by a family of musicians, including a piano playing
brother, a violinist sister, and a mother “who sings all the
time, but not in public.”  After being carjacked and kidnapped
during her college years in San Juan, Gena decided to move to
New York City.  “I was a little bit traumatized, I didn’t see
the point of staying there, at that point.  I was in a ‘who
cares’ kind of mode,” she explains.  A friend offered to pay her
way to the states, and the young women arrived in NYC the next
day.  Life in the city was far from A Chorus Line.  She told me
about nights where a friend from Rosario’s Pizza would keep the
place open until 6 in the mornin