La Linea – The London Latin Music Festival returns this April with a dynamic mix of rising stars and global superstars from the Latin music world!
Created by Como No in 2001, to showcase the Latin contribution to the wider musical world and to celebrate new artists, new collaborations and new projects, La Linea also recognises and celebrates London’s growing status as one of the world’s great Latin cities, home to many Latin artists and a hungry and diverse audience.
La Linea takes place each April in a range of venues across central London, from clubs to concert halls, presenting music that ranges from Brazilian hip-hop to fado, new Cuban sounds, ska and Balkan-infused cumbia, and all points between.
Portuguese fado singer, Ana Moura is a sublime performer who has been hailed as the fadista of her generation. She appears here playing material from her new Universal album Moura, produced by Larry Klein. Singer, composer, arranger, choir director and band leader, Daymé Arocena at 23 years old, is already a skilful, charismatic new presence in Cuban music. Championed by Gilles Peterson, she follows a decades-long tradition of female artists, including Omara Portuondo and Elena Burke, who adopted American standards to create the smoky jazz style called filin. But with her new recordings for Peterson’s Brownswood label, Daymé is very much creating her own new twenty-first century Cuban musical line. La Yegros plays a long awaited UK debut show hot on the heels of a new March release on Soundway Records. La Yegros has been a powerful presence on Buenos Aires’ underground scene, bringing a full live band to the digital cumbia party.
Politically and culturally motivated, Criolo is a rapper, composer and urban poet whose voice resounds with the youth of post-slump, pre-Olympic Brazil, exploring stories of poverty, police violence and social discrimination. He appears at La Linea as part of a debut national tour with shows in Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Cambridge and Brighton as well as Koko. Fusing the dusty sounds of the American Southwest with spaghetti western soundtracks, Mexican mariachi themes and a broad spectrum of Latin influences, Calexico is an eclectic ensemble whose work is as distinctive as it is unpredictable.
They make a long awaited return to La Linea playing music from their epic new album Edge of the Sun. Guatemalan singer/ songwriter Gaby Moreno supports them. She won the Latin Grammy for best new artist in November 2013 having started listening to blues, r&b and soul at a young age, taking inspiration from singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin. Chico Trujillo is much more than Chile’s most prominent cumbia band. They provide the soundtrack to every party from Santiago to Valparaiso but their mixture of classic cumbia seasoned with rock and ska has assured them audiences from every generation and every walk of life, throughout South America. The band's high-energy live shows - and occasional Balkanic brass lines - have had some drawing comparisons with Gogol Bordello.
Information and tickets for all shows www.lalineafestival.com
April 2016
Acts announced so far
Tuesday 19 April
Ana Moura – Cadogan Hall
Thursday 21 April
Daymé Arocena – Rich Mix
Friday 22 April
La Yegros – Rich Mix
Sunday 24 April
Criolo –Koko *
Monday 25 April
Calexico + Gaby Moreno – Barbican
Wednesday 27 April
Chico Trujillo – Electric Ballroom
More to be announced soon
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Ana Moura
Tuesday 19 April - Cadogan Hall, Show 7.30pm, £15-£25 (superseats £35)
