Anaïs Martín

Settled in Barcelona since 1992, the blues has been present in her life from an early age through the influence of some members of her family circle, such as the historic Málaga guitarist Javier Martín Aguilar. Her command of the most diverse variants of roots African-American music, from the work song to gospel and on to the deepest, most ancestral and earthbound blues, as she herself defines it, together with a magnetic stage presence, have made her an outstanding figure on the Barcelona blues scene, a genre she describes as “the music of broken, restless and rebellious souls who need to get an uncomfortable weight out of themselves, a cry, even a joke, an ironic satire or a relief”. After a decade devoted to music of African-American origin, she still enjoys it as much as the day she first heard a blues, performed by B.B. King, and she continues to release her unease as she sings and shares a passion that took hold of her while listening to a wide range of artists such as Skip James, Leadbelly, Memphis Minnie, Mills Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill or De La Soul, whose music settles upon her soul like the fluttering of the butterflies that decorate her skin.