MUSIC
BUIKA´S WORLD MUSIC by Pedro Pos “I never asked to join the world of music. I always let myself go where the wind took me and, ever since I was a little girl, they taught me not to carry any baggage”. Although she has still not realized it, Concha Buika was born for music – she’s just finished her fourth disc–, and she does have luggage, a heart-rending voice and an innate talent for fusion music. Born into a Guinean family in a poor district of Palma, the capital of Mallorca, music has marked the rhythm of her life. “In my area we lived with gypsy families and from them I picked up my flamenco streak. At home there was always a lot of music, because for us Africans it’s something that is essential. It was in Mallorca and in Madrid where Buika began to sing in clubs and to work with different groups on the underground circuit, mixing into her songs styles such as jazz, funk, soul, house and flamenco. Following a “spectacular time learning to make use of silence in my songs” in Las Vegas, where she appeared in several casinos making her name as a soloist, she returned to Spain to release her first self-produced disc. But it was with the second one, Mi niña Lola (My girl Lola), that she received the recognition of the critics for her moving interpretation of ballads. The girl from Mallorca is currently on tour with El último trago (The last drink), a disc that pays homage to Mexican singer Chavela Vargas and in which she surprises yet again with a new style in recordings. The thing is, Buika is eclectic. She doesn’t understand musical styles. She mixes them and sings them “so as not to go mad. Is a different form of order a sign of disorder or of one’s own identity?”
“Yo no pedí venir al mundo de la música. Siempre me he dejado llevar y desde chiquita me enseñaron a no llevar equipaje”. Aunque todavía no se haya dado cuenta, Concha Buika ha nacido para la música –acaba de publicar su cuarto trabajo- y sí lleva equipaje, una desgarradora voz y un talento innato para la fusión. De familia guineana, Buika nació en un barrio de Palma de Mallorca en el que la música marcaba el ritmo de su vida. “En mi barrio convivíamos con familias gitanas y de ahí mi vena flamenca. En mi casa siempre ha habido mucha música porque para nosotros, los africanos, es algo imprescindible”. Fue en Mallorca y en Madrid donde Buika empezó a cantar en clubs y a colaborar con diferentes grupos del circuito underground, mezclando en sus canciones estilos como el jazz, funk, soul, house o el flamenco. Tras un “tiempo espectacular aprendiendo a usar el silencio en mis canciones” en Las Vegas, donde actúa en diferentes casinos consolidándose como solista, vuelve a España y saca su primer disco de producción propia. Pero es con el segundo, Mi niña Lola, con el que alcanza el reconocimiento de la crítica por su emotiva interpretación de coplas. La mallorquina se encuentra actualmente de gira con El último trago, un disco homenaje a Chavela Vargas en el que vuelve a sorprender con nuevos registros. Y es que Buika es eclética, no entiende de estilos musicales, los mezcla y los canta “para no volverse loca. ¿Acaso un orden distinto es desorden o es identidad propia?”.
+ info:www.buika.net and www.myspace.com/conchabuika
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