ALL ARTISTS// Buika
© Fabien Maisonneuve
Mi Niña Lola
(Unfortunately, this review was done on the basis of a CD copy, with no liner notes describring the backing band. We will remedy this as soon as the original album is sent to us).
Several women flamenco singers from Spain have come to prominence recently. In 2005, the Boa Flamenco label released the compilation “Flamenco Woman”, which included new and established voices such as Lola Flores, Fernande de Utrera and La Perla de Cadiz. The label said they wished to pay “tribute to women and to their role with flamenco…which disregards clichés”. Astonishingly, the compilation omitted Buika.
Yet, from the first moment Buika shares the depth of her vocal chords on this album, the listener is aware that he/she is in for a spine-tingling experience. Few other singers on display reach the intensity and depth of this muli-talented singer’s vocal range. New talent Tomasa Guerrero “La Macanita” is about the closest, but there is none of the dexterity and soulfulness that the 34-year-old packs into the eleven songs on “Mi Niña Lola”.
The title track opens up the proceedings and builds up a smooth canopy of violins and piano on which Buika develops her sandpaper voice. “Ojos Verdes” and the superb ballad “Te Camelo” then reveal the surprising malleability of her singing. If there is a slight dip of rhythm in “Ay de mi Primavera”, it is almost a relief, allowing us to get our breath back before this jazz flamenco mixture sweeps us to new heights.
For the most part, Buika’s slick jazz band discreetly takes backstage allowing the listener to appreciate the full dimension of the Mallorquine’s singing. Yet the liveliness of the songs “Nostalgias”, “Loca” and “Buleria Alegre” prove the accompanying musicians can up the tempo to match the singer’s rapid-fire delivery. Ironically, their jazzed-up flamenco is a slick contrast to Buika’s singing. While the former is a rounded and polished sound, the latter reflects a woman full of raw energy and intensity.
According to reports, the band’s live performances are in keeping with her recording. One fan wrote: “Meet Concha Buika, flamenco meets funk meet Nina Simone. Live, she's an amazing performer, hypnotic, soulful, gutteral, lost in what she's singing. Plus the playful, ecstatic musical bantering between her pianist and the cajon player in a phenomenal quartet she's currently touring with. (It) only added to my goose pimples.” While Spain has long discovered the vivacious singer, we have had to satisfy ourselves with glimpses from her concerts on http://wandering-woman.blogspot.com/2006/07/buika.html. We can only look forward to ambitious producers like the Paris-based producer Robert Dray bringing Buika over from her Balaeric island. My thanks to him for having introduced my to this new and unexpected voice.
September 2006
Daniel Brown
// ALSO
- El Ultimo Trago
- Linaje
- Corren tiempos de alegria, BMG
- Khaled, Liberté
- womex 2009, October 29th
- Remembering Nusrat
- Los Van Van live Sat 7 March + competition!
- womex 2009, October 31st
- Rio's retro samba band Orquestra Imperial play KOKO 12 July
// ALL BUIKA'S REVIEWS
Mi Niña Lola
13/09/2006
// LINKS
RELATED ARTISTS
>> Luz Casal
>> Concha Buika
>> Elbicho
>> Radio Tarifa
>> Las tres Mil
REPORTS
// CONTACT
Buika's Website// POST A COMMENT
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tikka
07/21/2009 12:00 AM
Où pourrais-je trouver la partition piano voix de mi nina lola ?
leo
03/23/2009 02:25 AM
Je ne sais qui a ecrit cet article, mais juste precisé qu'elle n'est pas née au Guinée Equatoriale, mais plutôt en Palme de Majorque, en Esapagne. Un salut, fan de Buika.
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