African Flamenco Singer of Spain

When I first began blogging about my exposure to the Latino world, particularly the Afro-Latino world, I didn't have Spain in mind because it had very little to do with Black Latinos; so I thought. Because of my musical appreciation for the Spanish guitar, I started taking a personal interest in flamenco, and even attended some flamenco shows and thoroughly, and I do mean thoroughly, enjoyed them. One of my blog readers turned me onto Concha Buika, a Black singer and a Spaniard.

Buika's family is originally from Equatorial Guinea, a West African country where Spanish is spoken. She was born and raised in Mallorca among Gitanos (or Gypsies) in Spain who heavily influenced her with traditional flamenco. Today, Buika is a singer who handles and fuses many musical styles with flamenco, such as copla (another form of popular music of Southern Spain), jazz, rumba, and R&B. Her album Niña de Fuego (little girl of fire),  was nominated for the 2008 Latin Grammy Award for Album-of-the-Year.

Back in 2000 and 2001, she sang at The Luxor, Harrah's, Gold Coast casinos in Las Vegas as a Tina Turner impersonator, and also performed as a guest singer in the Blue Note festival with Rachelle Ferrell. Today, she is noted as one of the most lively and spontaneous artists in the current Spanish musical scene. I was encourage by my blog reader to check her out when she makes her next US tour, and I will!