OAKHURST, CA – Grammy-nominated Techeetah Lopez has been called the Queen of Salsa Soul, and this weekend, she will be bringing her unique sound to the Gazebo Stage at the 32nd annual Oakhurst Fall Festival. She will be performing with a local ensemble, as her entire Salsa band couldn’t make the trip, but she assures this reporter that she will bring all the Salsa flair.
Local
The Oakhurst Chamber of Commerce learned that Techeetah was a local and reached out to her on Facebook about the festival. She was thrilled to be able to perform so close to home, which allows her friends and family to see her on stage. She is a working musician as well as an actor and a television host, so she spends a lot of time on the road, and they don’t often get a chance to see her live.
Techeetah has owned property in the area for over a decade and would often come here to escape Los Angeles. She became a local when she moved here in 2021. She loves the peace and solitude that comes with living in our mountain community, but has had to adjust to the traveling that her job requires. “It’s far, you know, it’s far to go back and forth,” she says, “it’s a big change.”
Techeetah is married to a retired military veteran who currently works as a private contractor in the Middle East. Her family owns and operates 163 vacation rentals in the Yosemite Gateway communities under the name Scenic Wonders, one of the largest vacation organizations in the area.
Music, Television and Film
Not only is she a Grammy nominated singer, Techeetah has the number 2 cooking channel on The Sparkx Network on Roku TV, called Mixing In The Kitchen. You can also see it on her YouTube channel, and in the near future, it may be available in the Spanish sections of Netflix and Hulu in 36 countries. She is also a working actress, having starred in the lead role of “La Juana” in 2023.
Techeetah has a message for local musicians, and she asked me to share it with you. She is a voting member for both the English and Latin Grammy Associations, which she takes great pride in. And she wants local artists to know “that there’s actually somebody here in Oakhurst,” Techeetah says, “if they’re super duper talented and with dedication, that there’s somebody that actually could submit their song for a Grammy.”
Healing
Techeetah found another calling in recent years, that of a healer. “My great-grandmother was a town healer.” A (Curandera) is how it is pronounced in Spanish, says Techeetah. “She would grow [herbs], and people used to come to her house, and she used to get these little white cloths, and put the herbs in a cloth, and she used to tell them, put them in water, and soak them, and drink them as a tea.” Her family had always told her that she had that healing gift, but it wasn’t until a bad day on set that she decided enough was enough.
She had a bad case of laryngitis and a very unsympathetic director, a terrible combination for any actor. “The director told me to figure it out, and I’ll see you on set in 45 minutes,” she says. She had to work through the illness and vowed never to go through that again. She began researching a variety of healing herbs and found the one that would become her go-to.. Mullein.
Mullein
Known for its antiviral and antimicrobial properties and long used to support good respiratory health, Techeetah began growing her own Mullein, which she uses to make very potent tinctures and teas. She recommends it for a wide variety of ailments, including asthma, colds, coughs, and even COPD.
“It’s my own special little brew. People are calling it magic gold,” she says. “Nature just made the most wonderful healing herb, and there are a lot of people who don’t know about it.” An entrepreneur in every sense of the word, she is now transforming her potent tincture into a business, allowing her to share its healing properties with others. “I made the strongest tincture to take away any inflammation from my throat and to kill bacteria,” describes Techeetah. “And then I started giving it to my friends and family. Then they started telling people, and everybody started asking me for it. And before you know it, it just went kind of viral.”
The Festival
This Saturday at 7:00 p.m., Techeetah will take the stage at the 32nd annual Oakhurst Fall Festival, ready to pour her heart and soul into every note. This performance is an exceptional opportunity for her to connect with the friends, family, and neighbors who have supported her journey, and to make some new fans as well. Come and experience the vibrant energy of Salsa Soul, and a wide variety of tunes sure to please the whole crowd. So mark your calendars, bring your dancing shoes, and get ready for an unforgettable night of music.
More Local News
