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Anabel SantiagoDesnuda (Nube) La tonada, the traditional Asturian vocal music, translated to the 21st century. With the same impressive intensity as the legendary singers of that ancestral style, Anabel Santiago creates new musical settings in which her unique voice unfolds: from contemporary rock, pop and folk sounds to surprising cover versions of La Chicana and Johnny Cash: if Janis Joplin were Asturiana, she would probably sound like that. Her latest album strips off conventions and opens up her music to other styles like tango or country music (like Johnny Cash´s "Folsom Prison Blues"). A unique songer with a special approach to her music.
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More info: Tracks
Anabel Santiago was born in 1981 in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and moved soon to Asturies, a beautiful mountainous land on the Spanish north coast with rich musical traditions. She grew up surrounded by live performances of this musical heritage, watching and listening to old singers (especially her grandmother) performing at her parents´ bar. The ancient style of singing named “tonada” is related to spanish flamenco singing or “cante jondo” in certain ways. Sometimes it is sung along with the Asturian bagpipe but normally it´s done “a capella”. And typically you have to sing out very strong, loud and powerfully. Originally for men only, the last century saw many women begin to sing tonada. She lived an initial moment of revelation winning one of the most important Asturian singing competitions, at the age of 13, without ever having participated before in such an event. During the following ten years she won the rest of the numerous competitions in Asturies, so it shouldn´t surprise that a street was named after her in the Barrio La Corredoria in Oviedo, the neighbourhood dedicated to the eternal stars of Asturian folk music, like La Busdonga, Diamantina Rodríguez, El Maragatu or Juanin de Mieres. Anabel has played lots of concerts and festivals in Asturies, the rest of Spain and, as a kind of “ambassador” of her country, in places like Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Argentina or Venezuela. Currently she is one of the most important names in traditional Asturian music and certainly the only young singer to work hard on the renewal of traditional tonada. After recording four solo albums and collaborating on several recordings of the most diverse music styles, she made a significant step with her CD “Anabel Santiago canta a Diamantina Rodriguez“, dedicated to the most representative female voice in this genre, a women that both artistically and socially has had an important and revolutionary impact on the tonada in the 20th century. Her latest album, “Desnuda“ (“nude”), is the logical next step in her carreer. Dominating perfectly the traditional essence and style, she strips off conventions and opens up her music to other styles like tango or country music (like Johnny Cash´s “Folsom Prison Blues”). One soon notices that Anabel Santiago has listened carefully to Carmen Paris, Mercedes Peón, Maria del Mar Bonet, Lila Downs, La Chicana, Lucinda Williams or Loreena McKennitt. Intense and powerful, her voice is unifying element of this quite personal and poetic album composed of songs her close collaborator Ismael Arias has written especially for her and in which, together with her great musical partner Michael Lee Wolfe, she keeps on pushing to demonstrate that the history of the tonada style has just begun to catch the attention of a broader audience. In Asturies it is said that there is no other tonada singer rocking like Anabel Santiago. And she is willing to show that to the world.
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