Buika

Buika (pronounced BWEE-kah) was born María Concepción Balboa Buika on the Spanish island of Mallorca. If that's not spicy enough for you, her parents were political exiles from Equatorial Guinea. Like many a young lass, her early musical allegiances were to Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Inundated with many kinds of sounds, Buika gave it a go herself, singing in small venues across Europe. A chance meeting with producers led to involvement in the Euro-rave scene in Spain and Germany. After a time in London, she ended up in Las Vegas, working as a Tina Turner impersonator (no foolin'!). Yearning to do it her way, Spain and the sultry ache of its traditional coplas (Spanish torch songs from a woman's viewpoint) beckoned. Coplas are sort of like the American blues, and when Buika sings them with touches of flamenco and Afro-Cuban jazz, it makes her approach that much more unique.