Who would have told a Majorcan woman with Equatorial Guinean roots and a heart split between flamenco and jazz that success would open its doors to her like this. Buika is not an ordinary artist (or perhaps she is): she is rebellious, passionate, approachable, cheeky and very genuine; she doesn’t fool anyone and, if she lies, she “lies well.”
They say Buika has cultivated rapture throughout her unique career, and she shows it like no one else on stage. From the very beginning her life was full of contrasts. She was born in Palma de Mallorca in 1972, where she lived with her family, originally from Equatorial Guinea. Although from a very young age her mother taught her to listen to the great voices of jazz, in her neighborhood she breathed the purest gypsy flamenco, which steeped her skin in that distinctive quejío, the flamenco lament that now sets her apart.
Her career began in a strange way: she was studying drama, and she says she doesn’t remember how or why she ended up in Las Vegas working in a casino as a Tina Turner and Supremes impersonator. Perhaps it was just one of life’s twists and turns... For anyone else, there might be a world of difference between that and being regarded as she is now on the Spanish music scene; but she, thanks to her voice and her particular charisma, achieved “the impossible,” and while she was still there, jazz lady Rachelle Ferrell invited her to sing at the Club Note, encouraging her to stay in the world of music.
After all this adventure, she returned to Spain and settled in Madrid to record her debut album with the label Dro Atlantic, “Buika,” which, thanks to her determination to stay true to her own style, turned out to be a real revelation. On the cover, her image alluded to a woman with African roots, only to surprise listeners with an album full of the purest flamenco feeling, with a unique touch of fusion that has set her apart from the very beginning, not only as a singer but also as a songwriter and arranger.
Then along came Javier Limón, who turns everything he touches into gold, and with him came credibility and recognition. Her second album, “Mi niña Lola,” has received, among others, the awards for Best Music Production and Best Spanish Song Album at the Premios de la Música, the German Record Critics’ Award and a long list of others, accompanied by major festivals and concerts.
On stage, almost always with a whisky in her hand, the artist chats with the audience, confessing her hates and passions as if they were lifelong friends, leaving them stunned by her ever-genuine freshness, with a smile on her face, because whatever happens she knows how to live “screwed but happy.”
In October 2007 she was invited to sing at the Guanajuato Festival in Mexico, where she crossed paths with Chavela Vargas, who attended her concert at the Auditorium, reportedly spellbound by Buika’s voice. When it was over, she declared her right then and there to be her heir, her “black daughter,” something that surely could not have made her prouder. (Buika has confessed that she wrote the ranchera “Miénteme bien,” included on her third album, years earlier on a night of heartache when Chavela, who was coming to sing at the Teatro Albéniz in Madrid, decided not to invite her onto her stage after hearing her whisper “Ojos Verdes” a cappella one hot afternoon at the Residencia de Estudiantes. She cried over it, and this song was born from it.)
And so came 2008, the year of her consecration and her third album, “Niña de Fuego.” With it, perhaps to show she is still the same, Buika literally bares herself, laying all her feelings open. For this she again worked with Javier Limón as producer, with whom she has an exceptional rapport, sharing the creative work on several of the songs.
On the album we find copla classics transformed by her voice, such as La falsa moneda and Niña de fuego, and some songs written for her by Limón, such as the bulerías Culpa mía and Árboles de Agua, or the rumba No habrá nadie en el mundo. In addition, as a further step in her career and showing once again that she isn’t daunted by anything, on this album she also tries her hand at other styles. So, for the first time, we hear her singing rancheras in songs such as Miénteme bien, written in her own hand on the aforementioned night of spite, or Volver, Volver, in homage to Chavela. She makes this “foray” into a new style respectfully but from her own identity; both without mariachis or frills, just with Iván “Melón” Lewis’s piano in the case of Miénteme bien, or a guitar and Carlos Sarduy’s trumpet in Volver, volver.
Overall, the album is full of songs about love and heartbreak sung with a distinctive feeling that surely comes from her life experience and her training in acting. Buika throws herself into each song, shouting and whispering her emotions with a passion that some find overacted at times, but which has filled the venues she plays with devoted fans who appreciate not only her music but also her unique personality.
What’s more, both live and in the studio, she knows how to surround herself with the best, and it’s not unusual to see her accompanied by Jerry González’s trumpet or Horacio "El Negro" Hernández’s drums.
She is currently on tour in Europe, where she seems to be getting a great reception (in France alone she has around 11 concerts scheduled). Here at home this summer we were able to enjoy her and her raw emotions almost all over Spain: Barcelona, Valencia, Cádiz, Toledo, Málaga, Badajoz... are just some of the places she has visited.
ISP Música was at her performance at Rock in Rio, where she had the chance to close the bill on the Hot Stage with a short but flawless set, overshadowed only by the unfortunate overlap with another band on the Mundo stage. In a yellow dress and, as always, fearless, she won over the audience that had come to see her, and even some who were “just passing by.” Her unique style can bewitch anyone. If you don’t know her yet, be sure to listen to her albums.
