Yilian Cañizares is a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n-Swiss musician who has been described as one of the most incredible talents of the new generation of Cuban musicians.

Biography

Yilian Cañizares was born in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, and studied

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

there, following the Russian violin school. In 1997, she moved to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, in order to pursue her studies at the "Academia Latinoamericana de violin". Three years later, she moved again, to Switzerland, in order to complete her studies at the Fribourg/Freiburg conservatory. In addition to her classical brackground. she became interested in

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and started developing her singing skills. At the end of her studies, Cañizares started the band ''Ochumare'', or "rainbow" in Yoruba, with David Brito (

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

) and Cyril Regamey (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and

percussions A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

). She continued her career under her own name. She has been considered the raising star of the year 2013 by the French weekly ''

Le Nouvel Observateur (), previously known as (2014–2024), (1964–2014), (1954–1964), (1953–1954), and (1950–1953), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, ' is one of the three most prominent French news magazines ...

'' and the French magazine ''

Les Inrockuptibles ''Les Inrockuptibles'' (), abbreviated as ''Les Inrocks'', is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. As of 2021, it returned to a monthly format. In the beginning, rock music was the magazine's prim ...

'' selected her album ''Invocación'' in the top ten 2015

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

albums. In 2018 Cañizares and the Cuban pianist Omar Sosa released th
album “Aguas”
featuring Inor Sotolongo as percussionist. '
The new album, “Erzulie”
named after the Haitian goddess of love and freedom, was released on 15 November 2019. Recorded in New Orleans, the album features the participation of several guests including

Christian Scott Christian Scott may refer to: * Christian Scott (baseball) (born 1999), American baseball player * Christian Scott (musician) Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah () (born March 31, 1983, formerly Christian Scott) is an American jazz trumpeter, multi-instr ...

(trumpet),

Michael League Michael League (born April 24, 1984) is an Americans, American composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the bandleader of instrumental band Snarky Puppy and the international music ensemble Bokanté. He also founded the band Forq wi ...

(double bass), Bill Laurance (piano), Bobby Sparks (organ) and Justin Stanton (keyboards). With this album, Yilian has been nominated for the Songlines Music Awards as best artist/album 2021. Yilian has collaborated with artists like Chucho Valdés, Ibrahim Maalouf, Diego El Cigala, Youn Sun Nah, Omar Sosa, Dhafer Youssef, Richard Bona, Roberto Fonseca and El Comité. She teaches violin and jazz improvisation at the Ecole de jazz et des musiques actuelles in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

. She has remained in Switzerland and has acquired citizenship.

Style

Cañizares's style reflects her various influences with shades of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and

cuban music The music of Cuba, including its instruments, performance, and dance, comprises a large set of unique traditions influenced mostly by west African and European (especially Spanish) music. Due to the syncretic nature of most of its genres, Cuban ...

, with a lot of space left for improvisation. The French magazine ''

'' describes her style as a jazz instrumentation mixed with Yoruba ritual percussion. She sings in Spanish, Yoruba and French. One of her hallmarks is simultaneously playing violin and singing.

Discography

Ochumare Quartet * 2009: ''Caminos'' * 2011: ''Somos Ochumare'' Yilian Cañizares * 2013: ''Ochumare'',

Naïve Records Naïve Records is a French independent record label based in Paris, specializing in electronic music, pop music, jazz and classical music. Founding and expansion It was founded in 1998 by Patrick Zelnik, former CEO of Virgin France, Gilles Paire ...

* 2015: ''Invocación'', Naïve Records *2019 : Erzulie
Planeta Y
Omar Sosa & Yilian Cañizares *2018: ''Aguas'', with Omar Sosa, Otá *2019 : Omar Sosa & Yilian Cañizares feat. Gustavo Ovalles - Live at Elbphilarmonie, Hamburg.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Canizares, Yilian Living people Cuban jazz violinists Cuban women violinists 21st-century Swiss musicians 21st-century Cuban women singers Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Havana French-language singers of Cuba French-language singers of Switzerland Spanish-language singers of Cuba Spanish-language singers of Switzerland Yoruba-language singers of Cuba Cuban emigrants Immigrants to Switzerland Swiss women violinists 21st-century Swiss women singers Swiss violinists 21st-century women musicians 21st-century violinists Naïve Records artists