Chiki Lora was born in Malaga in 1982, when Spain was wearing Naranjito's boots for the Soccer World Cup. He grew up in Madrid, and his bones and songs eventually settled in the Basque Country. The kilometers attest to his more than 20 years playing, at first with his band Canteca de Macao where he was a composer, singer and guitarist, with 6 albums behind him, and since 2018 with his solo project, with three albums on the market. Chiki Lora has found in his brief solo career peace that he craved.

The free concept of his music makes him explore genres such as flamenco, funky, jazz, salsa or reggae, among others.

Artist Bio

Chiki Lora was born in Malaga in 1982, when Spain was putting on his Naranjito boots for the Football World Cup. He grew up in Madrid, and his bones and songs finally settled down in the Basque Country. He was born as a world traveler musician, and the thousands of miles traveled for many years as a member of Canteca de Macao – a band where he was composer, singer, and guitarist - have come to place Chiki Lora in a haven of peace in his solo career, that has started recently.

Back in 2016, the heart and soul of Canteca de Macao for 15 years together with Anita Kuruba, decided to start his solo career and release an album with El Volcan Musica. Sumando (Add Up) – a perfect name for an artist that does not know about deductions – was born from the need of the artist to keep on communicating through his music. “A bunch of songs that needed to see the light”, as said in the artist's own words.

He surrounded himself with great musicians and better friends for that first album. El Canijo de Jerez, Javi Cantero, Tomasito, his soul sister Anita Kuruba or Juanito Makandé were just a few of the names taking part in it. The results of this first solo experience were great, Sumando was considered one of the top ten world music albums for Mondosonoro magazine. He offered a tour with more than 50 shows and visited countries such as Cuba, Slovenia, Hungary and United States.

It’s not surprising that he named his second album Ura, a Basque word meaning water. A name that fits Chiki perfectly, because he is as natural and unpredictable as water is. He’s not tied to any genre, but drinks a bit of all of them. No barriers can stop him, he flows freely through them. Just like water he can both be a strong torrent or a placid flow, he can raft among the rapids of a river, or swim peacefully in a placid lake.

Chiki Lora’s music in Ura is like this; an ocean of contrasting and seducing sounds moving from reggae to funk, from salsa to rumba. He’s got an unleashing concept for melody that we’re already used to from him. His previous solo album, Sumando, was already another catalogue of a variety of styles and feelings. Always approaching these genres from an absolute respect.

Juanito Makande is now the co-producer of Ura, and it was next to him and hand in hand that they cooked the songs and simmered this new album. It was recorded in La Luciernaga Estudios in Mallorca, and again a good bunch of musicians surrounded Chiki Lora, Enrique Rodríguez on the trumpets, Rodrigo Díaz “El Niño” on the drums, Jose María Sánchez “Cortina” on the keyboards, Jorge Manuel Masaedo on the congas, and Juanito Makande coproducing and playing guitars, percussions and voices. Besides a few special collaborations highlight in the album. Alejandro Gutierrez, singer and writer of Habana Abierta, appears on Por Hablar, and María Garcia, the 50% of the duo Aitor y María, also appears on Tanguillo del Ura.

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