Internationally renowned Spanish-born singer Buika announces new album & US tour
Over
the course of her 15-year recording career, Buika, the Spanish-born
singer of African descent, has continued to confound expectations. She
has recorded a vast range of songs, employing an equally wide spectrum
of sounds and collaborating with musicians from around the world. What
unites Buika's body of work is not genre, and not even just her voice,
although it is immediately arresting and instantly recognizable to those
who have heard it; The Los Angeles Times has said, "Though compared to
Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf, she sounds like no one but
herself." Listening to Buika's discography, a pattern emerges of growing
confidence and daring. On her aptly titled Vivir Sin Miedo (To Live
Without Fear), she makes a striking departure from the Spanish raga
flamenco, Latin jazz and world music for which she is known, into
something best described as global pop. For the first time, she sings
more in English than in Spanish (and often mixes the two). Warner Music
Latina releases the album October 16.
Buika wrote or co-wrote all of Vivir Sin Miedo, which she co-produced
with Martin Terefe (Mary J. Blige, Jamie Cullum, Coldplay) and recorded
in Miami, New York, London and Madrid-a series of cities as global as
Buika's artistry. The ten songs draw upon reggae, ragga, Afrobeat,
R&B, funk and gospel. The new sound is audible from the start of the
album, the title track, which features lyrics in English and Spanish
and a reggae rhythm that recalls 1970s Bob Marley. Buika co-wrote and
sings the album's first single, "Carry Your Own Weight," with Jason
Mraz, one of her many artist fans. Musically and professionally, the
song brings to mind "7 Seconds," the iconic Senegalese singer Youssou
N'Dour's collaboration with Neneh Cherry, which introduced him to a
mainstream American audience in 1996 and remains a classic today. While
"Carry Your Own Weight" reflects Buika's growing connection to the U.S.,
where she has been based since 2011, she remains grounded in the music
of her native Spain, collaborating on the song "Waves" with the great
flamenco singer Potito.
In her work to date, Buika has already fulfilled the prediction that
filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, another of Buika's artist admirers, made a
few years ago when he said, "Seeing her draw from such different genres
as coplas, tango, bulerias, bolero, Cuban music and jazz, mix them
altogether with such grace and spontaneity, one cannot help but think
that there is a brighter future as long as one can witness the boundless
evolution of this infinite performer." Indeed, Almodovar helped
introduce Buika to a wider audience worldwide when he cast her in his
2011 psychological thriller The Skin I Live In. Upon the release of that
film, Warner Music issued the double-LP collection of Buika recordings
En Mi Piel (In My Skin) to meet a growing demand for her music in the
U.S.
Buika has experienced a meteoric rise since her introduction to the
American marketplace in 2007 with the album Mi Niña Lola (My Little Girl
Lola), winning awards as well as lavish praise from The New York Times,
The New Yorker, The Miami Herald and NPR. Vivir Sin Miedo follows
Buika's acclaimed 2013 release La Noche Más Larga, which won a Latin
Grammy and received a Grammy nomination in the Best Latin Jazz Album
category. She recorded that album in Madrid, Miami, and New York, with a
dazzling group of musicians including Latin jazz luminaries Dafnis
Prieto (drums), John Benítez (bass) and Pedrito Martínez (percussion), a
top-flight combo with the chops and imagination to match the singer's
disregard for genre boundaries.
In the spring, Buika will perform material from Vivir Sin Miedo, with a
new band, at prestigious concert halls across the U.S., including Walt
Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Carnegie Hall in New York. The
group-with musicians from the U.S., the U.K., Spain, Cuba, Denmark and
Sweden who have collaborated with the likes of Paul McCartney and
Chrissie Hynde-debuted this week in a season-opening concert at Prague's
Státní Opera, and had the audience, to whom Buika was mostly unknown,
on their feet, dancing. An itinerary of confirmed U.S. tour dates
follows.
Buika Spring U.S. Tour Dates:
March 19 Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
March 24 Albuquerque, NM - National Hispanic Center
March 26 Los Angeles, CA - Walt Disney Concert Hall
April 22 Miami, FL - Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
April 24 Washington, DC - Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University
April 26 New York, NY - Carnegie Hall
May 1 Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center
More Information: http://www.conchabuikamusic.com/
from www.jazzcorner.com