La India Canela is the stage name of Lidia Maria Hernandez Lopez, a gifted accordion player who specializes in tipico-styled meringue. Lopez was born in Limon, Villa Gonzalez, a rural tobacco-farming region in the Santiago Province of the Dominican Republic. Her brother played accordion, and she gravitated to the instrument as a child, quickly showing an affinity for the instrument. Her father apprenticed the young musician to saxophonist Miro Francisco, who also played the accordion, and her formal training began. Juan de Dius, a saxophonist in Fefita La Grande's band, heard ...