BUIKA OF FIRE

A few months ago CONCHA BUIKA a.k.a. Buika released her third album titled Niña de Fuego (Girl of Fire). This album is quite a change from her previous releases. It leaves all that funky stuff and blatant flamenco pop reminiscent of Niña Pastori far behind. On Niña de Fuego Buika revels herself as a mature, intimate and restrained artist. She sings coplas, bulerías and ranchera songs. All of it spiced up with loads of jazz. It's an excellent album, no wonder it garnered a Latin Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Let's see a song titled La Falsa Moneda (A Fake Coin):



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THE STORY OF RITA AND RAMI

RITA KLEINSTEIN, known as Rita, is one of the most important and popular Israeli pop singers. To date she has released nearly ten albums. For most of her career Rita worked in close collaboration with her husband Rami Kleinstein, who is one of the most important Israeli producers, songwriters and singers. In 2007 Rita e Rami announced that they had decided to separate, both conjugally and artistically. It was quite a shock for their fans. In 2008 Rita released a new album titled רמזים - Remazim (Clues). Let's see a song titled מחכה - Mehake (Waiting), which was the first single off that album:



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BETWEEN CUBA & MAGHREB

At first sight, or rather listening, SOHA seems to be Caribbean. Which is anything but true. Soha is actually a desert's daughter (or granddaughter, to be precise). Soha herself was born in Marseille in the south of France, but her parents are Algerian, belonging to a Sahrawi tribe. Her music is a likeable blend of reggae, blues, African and Caribbean music. Soha's most important musical influence is Cuban diva Celia Cruz. Her first (and only so far) release titled D'ici et d'ailleurs came out in 2007. Let's see a song titled Tourbillon (Serre-moi fort si tu m'aimes). The video was shot in Cuba:



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ANNETT GOES LATIN (& DRUNK)

It's been a couple of months since ANNETT LOUISAN, who is our favourite German sängerin, released her third album titled Das Optimale Leben (The Perfect Life). The recipe for Annett's music hasn't changed a lot. Take a pint of jazz. A pint of chanson. And two pints of pop. But we do find a new ingredient in Das Optimale Leben. Many songs have Latin (mostly Cuban and Brazilian) influences. Let's watch and listen to Das Alles wär' nie passiert (All of it wouldn't have happened), in which Annett warns against the consequences of alcohol abuse (an Italian wine called prosecco, to be precise):



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CAPE LURA

It's been a couple of years since it became quite clear that Cesária Évora is not the only musical treasure that the archipelago of Cape Verde has to offer. There are plenty of other talented Capeverdian female vocalists. And it doesn't actually matter that many of them, like Sara Tavares or Mayra Andrade, were born somewhere else. This is also the case of LURA, who was born in 1975 in Lisbon. To date Lura has released four albums. Let's see a song titled Oh Náia, which comes from Lura's 2005 release titled Di Korpu Ku Alma:



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SHAKIRA IN SPANISH

Very few female vocalists whose native language is other than English have become international mainstream music stars. Those who, against all odds, managed to do it, had to give up singing in their language in favour of English. That's what happened to Celine Dion. That's what also happened to SHAKIRA. Fortunately, even today Shakira sometimes sings in Spanish. Let's see a song titled Hay Amores, which comes from Love in the Time of Cholera soundtrack. It is said that it was Gabriel García Marquez himself who convinced Shakira to sing this song:



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JUSTYNA'S ALCHEMY

Born in 1972 in Rzeszów JUSTYNA STECZKOWSKA is one of my favourite Polish artists. Her creativity and versatility seem to have no limits. To date she has released ten albums (a new one titled To mój czas - This Is My Time is scheduled to be out in March 2009). My favourite Justyna's album is her 2002 release titled Alkimja (Alchemy). It was recorded live at a unique concert during which Justyna performed traditional Jewish klezmer and ladino songs (most of them with brand new lyrics written in Polish). Let's see a song titled Ad-lo-jada:



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FRISIAN FADO

NYNKE LAVERMAN was born in 1980 in the village of Weidum, which is located in the north of the Netherlands. Despite not being Portuguese, Nynke is a great fado singer. The evidence of that is her 2004 debut release titled Sielesâlt (The Salt of the Soul), which is a collection of songs composed by eminent Portuguese musician Custódio Castelo. The lyrics in Frisian were written by Nynke herself. Nynke's second release came out in 2006. It was inspired by Spanish, Mexican and Argentinean music. Her latest release titled Nomade is scheduled to be out in March 2009. Let's see Nynke perform a song titled Voor Marie-Louise (this is not a fado of course):



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EMIGRANT VOICE

ALINE DE LIMA is a young Brazilian born in the remote state of Maranhão who left her native land in 1998 to live first in Stockholm and then in Paris. Aline's debut release titled Arrebol came out in 2006. It featured deeply nostalgic and somewhat ethereal bossa nova songs. Aline's second release titled Açaí came out in 2008. Aline's popularity is on the rise in Europe (mostly France), although in her native country she's almost unknown (which is tipical of emigrant artists). Let's see Aline perform live Menino Açaí:



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AYA'S SUMMER

Born in 1980 close to the ancient city of Nazareth, AYA KOREM is another one of the bunch of young and wildly talented singers and songwriters who have appeared on the Israeli pop music scene in recent years. Aya's first release came in 2006. It was quite a success (although some did criticize it as too mainstream). Her second and even more successful release titled שפה זרה - Safa Zara (Foreign Language) came in 2008. Let's see a song titled קיץ - Kaitz (The Summer). It was Aya's debut single:



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