Anita Tijoux

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Born Anamaría Tijoux in Lille, France in 1977, daughter to a French mother and a Chilean father while in political exile during Pinochet's dictatorship. She became famous in Latin America as the female MC of hip-hop group Makiza during the late nineties. In 2006 she crossed over to the Latin mainstream pop due to her collaboration with Mexican songstress Julieta Venegas in the radio hit "Eres para mí". She is currently promoting her first solo album, Kaos.

[edit] Biography

After the return to democracy in Chile, Anita flew back to her father's land. Being a teenager, she found home in the emerging hip-hop scene of Santiago de Chile and she started rhyming first in French, then in Spanish. For a while she formed part of a group that included Zaturno, later of Tiro de Gracia. In 1997 she joined Seo2, Cenzi and DJ Squat to form Makiza.

Makiza released their first cassette in 1998, Vida Salvaje was an independent production but gained huge acceptance in the local scene.

At the same time, Tiro de Gracia became the best selling Chilean rap group of all times with their debut Ser Hümano and that focused the interest of major record labels in rap music. As a result of this Sony approached Makiza and offered them a record deal. Aerolíneas Makiza was the result of this deal, a CD that included new and improved versions of some songs from Vida Salvaje plus new song, including the hit single "La Rosa De Los Vientos".

Aerolíneas Makiza put Makiza instantly at the top of the game of Latin American hip-hop. Their style of rap was much more evolved than most the other Spanish speaking rap published in the continent to the moment. Their production style resembled the New York underground sound inspired by the Native Tongues. Their lyrics lacked the overwhelming machismo and violence of average rap, focusing more in more sensitive matters. That helped them receive the approval from a wider and more educated audience that weren't involved in hip-hop culture.

However the momentum that Makiza gained with their first album didn't last very long. Right before the release of their second single and their touring through neighbor countries, Anita Tijoux decided to break off the group. At the moment she announced that she was abandoning not only Makiza but hip-hop as a whole and her music career as well.

In 2001 Anita Tijoux moved back to France where half of her relatives still lived. She stayed in France until 2004 and during that period she didn't release any music.

After her return to Chile in 2004 she started singing with a Chilean funk band called Aluzinati. That same year she appeared as a featured artist in Control Machete's last album: Uno Dos Bandera and she also recorded a song with Julieta Venegas for the soundtrack of the movie Subterra.

It came as a surprise to the fans when Makiza announced a reunion show to promote the re-release of Vida Salvaje, now re-mastered and in CD format. Due to the success of that historical concert, Anita and Seo2, the only two remaining members of Makiza decided to reunite the group and started working on new material.

Casino Royale was the name of the new Makiza CD, released on 2005 under the independent lavel Bizarro Records. The new formation of Makiza included a third MC: Sonido Acido and instead of using only one producer like they used to do in the past, they collaborated with different producers. As a result, fans were disappointed with this new album. In 2006 Anita Tijoux announced she was leaving Makiza again and launching her solo career.

Anita started recording demos for her long-awaited solo debut with different producers. At one point she even had a full band of live musicians with caused many of her fans to criticize for having moved from hip-hop to pop-rock. During this time she also collaborated as a guest vocalist in Julieta Venegas' radio-hit "Eres para Mí" which suddenly launched Anita Tijoux to the mainstream pop market all over Latin America, Spain and the U.S.A.

In September 2007 Anita Tijoux finally released her solo debut, named Kaos, under the independent label Oveja Negra. Thanks to the first single, "Despabílate", Anita was nominated for the Latin version of the MTV Video Music Awards 2007 under the categories: Best New Artist and Best Urban Artist. At the same time she was nominated for song of the year together with Julieta Venegas for "Eres Para Mí"