| Ana Tijoux | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Anamaría Merino |
| Born | June 12, 1977 Lille, France |
| Genres | Hip hop, Pop, Trip hop, Urban, R&B |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Website | Ana Tijoux.com, MySpace |
Anamaría Merino (born 1977), commonly known by her stage name Ana Tijoux or Anita Tijoux, is a French-Chilean musician. She became famous in Latin America as the female MC of hip-hop group Makiza during the late 1990s. 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 second solo album, 1977.
Tijoux is the daughter of Chilean parents living in political exile in France during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship of Chile.[1]
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After the return to democracy in Chile, Tijoux flew back to her father's land. Being a teenager, she found home in the emerging hip-hop scene of Santiago 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. It 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 humano!! 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 audience that was not involved in hip-hop culture.
Right before the release of their second single and their touring through neighbor countries, Tijoux decided to break off the group for personal reasons. 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, Tijoux moved back to France where half of her relatives still lived. She stayed in France until 2004 and during that period, she did not 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 label 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. In 2006, Tijoux announced she was leaving Makiza again and launching her solo career.
Tijoux started recording demos for her long-awaited solo debut with different producers. At one point, she even had a full band of live musicians, straying a bit from her pure hip-hop roots and exploring new forms and collaborations. During this time, she also collaborated as a guest vocalist in Julieta Venegas' radio-hit "Eres para Mí," which suddenly launched Tijoux to the mainstream pop market all over Latin America, Spain, and the United States.
In September 2007, 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".[2]
In October 2009, Tijoux released her second solo album, titled 1977 after the year she was born. The album was a return to her rap roots, an homage to the "golden age of hip-hop"; it was largely auto-biographical, exploring mature themes from her own life, from the death of a close friend to having a creative crises, from friendship to bad luck, amongst others. It was simple and straight to the point, as emphasized by her leaving behind a lot of the singing she had been doing of late in other more pop collaborations, and concentrating on rap, both in Spanish and French. After years of sharing the spotlight with her group, collaborating with other artists, and trying to find her way as a solo artist, she has finally arrived in her own right—a raw, direct, and mature MC.
Recorded between May and September 2009, the new album was produced by Hordatoj, Foex y Tee, of the label Potoco Discos, together with Habitación del Pánico. Guests on the record include the saxophonist Agustín Moya with whom she worked with in Aluzinati, Andrés Celis, Solo Di Medina, Bubaseta, Stailok from the group Movimiento Original, DJ Dacel, Quique Neira from Godwana, Cómo Asesinar A Felipes, and the Detroit-based MC Invincible, who she met over MySpace and did a virtual collaboration for the song "Sube".
The album and its first single 1977 were an immediate hit in the underground rap circles of Chile, where she was welcomed back after a bit of a stray. The record was amongst the top 10 of 2009 for the blog [worldhiphopmarket.com], and it was soon picked up by the U.S.-based Latin Alternative label Nacional Records, who released it in April 2010. She was invited to attend the prestigious South By South West Music Festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2010, and from there went on to her first ever North American tour. The song 1977 is featured in FIFA 11 soundtrack, and it also appears in episode five of the fourth season of Breaking Bad.