Argentinian-Canadian Latin Folk Artist, Onna Lou, releases a powerful sophomore album, “Diamante on May 27, 2022.
Drawing from personal experience and high-level music education, Onna Lou’s “Diamante” is a journey through life and Latin American musical culture.
Winnipeg, MB – May 30 2022 – Argentinian-Canadian singer-songwriter Onna Lou has just released her brand-new album, “Diamante” on May 27 2022.
With a degree in Contemporary Writing and Production from the world renowned Berklee College of Music and another in Classical Music Composition from Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires, Onna Lou is an internationally recognized, highly educated musician and artist who is well known for her heartfelt lyrics, attention to detail, and vast knowledge of the regional history and stylings of Latin music. Her expert ability to blendtraditional musical elements with contemporary sounds results in songs that not only communicate through their lyrics, but their melodies as well.
Singles from Onna Lou’s new album have made their way across Canada where her meaningful lyrics and expansive melodies have resonated throughout the country. She has been hailed as an artist who “can dizzy your world in Flamenco, Latin American Folk, Tango, Jazz, Pop and Rock and you get the feeling she’s just getting started.” She ranks among the 2.1% of female identifying producers in the industry today, who also writes, plays instruments on, and records her own music. Her songs are consistently played across the country, and have been featured across the CBC radio network, CKUA, and many more. Her academic reference letter was written by the now Pope, and Onna Lou is often invited to perform her music live on television shows across Canada.
Describing her 2015 debut album as emotionally “contained”, Onna Lou’s brand-new album, “Diamante”, showcases her tremendous growth, remarkable talent, and confidence as she transcends geographical and cultural borders as both an artist and a producer. Self-produced alongside her husband and partner in music composition and engineering, Julian Vidal, the album is almost completely self-written and co-produced by Onna Lou, and features a handful of esteemed local musicians, as well as Grammy Award-winning Venezuelan producer Raniero Palm (Marc Anthony, Carlos Vives, Rubén Blades).
Filled with stories of joy and sorrow, overcoming heartache, friendships, love, and more, “Diamante” colourfully journeys through the most beautiful, as well as the most challenging realities of life, bringing to life Onna Lou’s most personal work yet. Onna Lou’s inspiration for naming the album “Diamante” (Spanish word for diamond) came from using the scientific process of creating diamonds as a metaphor for strength. “Diamonds form under high pressure and temperatures, where fluids transform into the hardest and most beautiful of rocks. When we survive, when we honour ourselves, when we let others in, when we light a match in the darkest of moments, all the weight of that which we had to go through turns us into diamonds.”
The first single from the album, “Bailar de a Dos” (dancing in couples), is an up-tempo track about human connections, noting that we now have more means to connect with each other than ever before yet remain so far apart, while putting excessive value on the individual over shared wellbeing. This uplifting song is filled with encouragement to return to really seeing one another, and building lives together.
Directly translating to “let’s smile at sorrow”, “Sonriamosle a La Pena” is a song about acknowledging that sorrow is a part of life, looking at the often-considered negative emotion from a different lens, concluding that “…the presence of sorrow doesn’t equal unhappiness, there is enough room in our hearts for it all”. The song features strong Cuban instrumentation includes an outstanding performance from Winnipeg trumpetist Chris Fensom from the world-renowned Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
The title track from the album, “Diamante”, was released on International Women’s Day and was written for all people facing oppression whether it’s societal, cultural, or directly from a person in their life. Used as a metaphor for how diamonds are created, Onna Lou speaks from personal experience prior to, and after she became a mother. The lead track from the album, “Qué hiciste con mi querer” (What did you do with my love?), is a Tango infused, theatrical song about the loss of love in a relationship. The Jazz influenced track calls on listeners to remember to “love well” because often the demands of everyday life can make us forget to, and neglect the other as a result.
Six years after her debut album was released, Onna Lou’s second album “Diamante” poignantly showcases both her personal and professional growth as an artist. Onna Lou says, “This album is about personal strength – a journey of what it means to be alive, and a reminder that we can overcome tremendous challenges and emerge stronger. I want it to be a sort of cathartic experience for the listener – a space to laugh, to dance, to cry, to think… a pause to feel whatever they need to feel”. Filled with colourful musical tapestries and deeply personal lyrics, Onna Lou’s “Diamante” flawlessly acknowledges that through the hardest of times, there is always beauty inside and around us, and unimagined strength within to carry us through the storm to the other side.
“Diamante” is available now!
Onna Lou will be performing live at Winnipeg’s Antoine Gaborieau Hall on July 14 – Tickets.
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