Buika to Play Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, 4/10

Buika's remarkable voice -and greatest instrument on stage-has attracted world- wide audiences with its husky, velvety, raw tonal textures that carry the emotive lyricism of her latest album release, La Noche Más Larga (The Longest Night, 2013).

Her seventh album has Buika returning to the gypsy neighborhoods of Mallorca, Spain, where she grew up as a child of African parents feeling displaced, and is a continued tale of exploring the flamenco art form, with almost exclusively Spanish lyrics, fused with jazz, Afro-Cuban world music influences.

An Evening with Buika features a blend of classic songs of varying styles; each one symbolizing a different moment in Buika's life. Classic hits such as "Don't Explain" (Billie Holiday), "Siboney" (Ernesto Lecuona), "St. Lucia" (Roque Narvaja) or "Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazon" (Fito Paez), as heard on La Noche Más Larga, are coupled with some of Buika's latest compositions.

Tickets for An Evening with Buika on Thursday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater are available from $29 to $39 at kimmelcenter.org, the Kimmel Center Box Office located at Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. (open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., later on performance evenings) or charge by phone at 215-893-1999.

This program is generously supported by Health Partners Plans, Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc., UGI Corporation/AmeriGas.

Released June of 2013, La Noche Más Larga is Buika's most diverse album and continues to break down the walls that surround Flamenco and Copla, the root sources of everything she does, but a tradition that can't contain her ever-evolving vision. The album was released worldwide, charted in countries such as the United States, Spain, France, the U.K., Holland, Turkey, Mexico and Argentina. Most significantly, Buika wrote nearly half of the songs herself.

Born Maria Concepcion Balboa Buika to parents who came to Spain from Equatorial Guinea, Buika was heavily influenced by flamenco's individualistic spirit within her community. Also influenced by her mother's love of jazz, she began her singing career in the clubs of Mallorca. Buika began her recording career in 2000, however, it was her second solo album Mi Nina Lola (2006, My Little Girl Lola) that brought her mainstream success. Mi Nina Lola became her first U.S. debut album, after it had already won "Best Album" and "Best Production" honors at the Spanish Music Awards.