Artist Focus: Angelica

In the run up to A celebration of Cuban music at The Jazz Cafe featuring Diáspora 12-piece band on 4th September, we're running an artist focus on the players joining us for the night. This month, we’re very pleased to welcome Angie Rincon who will be opening the night with Fiesta Latina.

Born and raised in London, Angelica was born into a Colombian family and into a very artistic and musical environment. From the age of 5, she began studying dance, a passion which eventually took her to the prestigious Silvia Young Theatre School. Her musical abilities were developed not only by being exposed to the coming and going of musicians in her home (her father a musician for the last 30 years) but also by studying piano from age 10.

Angelica began vocal studies at age 17 under the guidance of Guillermo Rozenthuler. In 2003 she joined Cocomex, a 6-piece Latin music ensemble where she worked as a backing vocalist and dancer, and eventually became lead vocalist. Alongside this, Angelica developed a strong passion for Latin percussion and to this day includes hand percussion as part of her stage performance.
​
In 2005, Angelica became one third of Son Real Orchestra, the only Latin music band in the UK lead by three female vocalists. In 2007, Son Real Orchestra recorded “London Tropical“ under ARC records. Angelica’s vocals can be appreciated in songs such as “Caleno”, “Mi Refugio“, “Mi Bello Cali“ and “My Cherie Amour“. Whilst in Son Real Orchestra, Angelica shared the stage with big names in the Latin music industry like "Binomio de Oro" and "Diomedes Diaz”, and worked as a backing vocalist for salsa singers such as Grammy award winning singer Lalo Rodríguez.

Angelica has also performed lead vocals for various Latin bands in the UK scene such as Salseology, and collaborated on urban Latin projects with artists like “Baby Latino“ as can be appreciated on “Tumbao” song recorded under and independent label in 2009.

Since then, Angelica Rincon is working as a solo artist with the purpose of bringing a female perspective to salsa music which is lacking in the industry. Angelica released her solo album in summer 2012.