Yumarya

Growing up Born in 1974 in Curaçao, The Netherlands Antilles, Yumarya discovered her love for music and pleasure in singing at a young age. She grew up listening to all sorts of music, from traditional folklore music from her island and the surrounding ones, to beautiful salsa music from all the big stars as Celia Cruz, Oscar d’Leon, Marc Anthony and many more. First steps in the music world On her native island she started singing in several choirs, mainly in gospel and folklore choirs. In 1993 she moved to The Netherlands, in order to study English. There she got in touch with several bands, which asked her to do free-lance work. Due to her affinity with Latin-American music, her experience in singing and her capacity to speak Spanish fluently, she was able to learn the different repertoires quickly. Projects and bands Yumarya has been learning more and more about Latin music ever since. She has had the opportunity to work with several top musicians from Europe and Latin-America. Nowadays Yumarya works together with top artists from the Dutch Latin/Jazz scene, including Gerardo Rosales (Salsa Mundial theatre tour), Alberto Caicedo (La voz de Colombia), Masalsa, Orville Breeveld Big Band ( “Dansi Festival Latin Divas” 2009, Sail Festival 2010 in Amsterdam) and ZuleMax (Antwerp 2013). In August she collaborated with legendary Fania All Stars pianist Larry Harlow from New York at the Sfinks World Music Festival 2012 in Belgium. A few years ago she performed with Willy Panama from Miami at Summer Carnival Festival in Rotterdam in front of a crowd estimated at 50.000 people. At the moment she can be seen as the lead vocalist of the resident band of Latin Dance Club Mystique in Amsterdam, named Los Misticos (Festival Toros y Salsa, France), Latin-jazz band “Salsa Fuerte” (Stuttgart Jazz Festival), Maite Hontele from Colombia (North Sea Jazz Festival 2010, Gwanju World Music Festival 2010 Zuid-Korea), Bongomatik (fusion of Latin, Funk, Jazz and Pop music) and her traditional son montuno band “Conjunto Tres – Dos (The Netherlands). She has been the lead vocal for the Lucas van Merwijk Band at the “Koninkrijksconcerten” since 2011. Recently she performed with the band K’Ribe, where she was the supporting act for Grupo Niche (Colombia) in Antwerp, Belgium. Yumarya has recorded CDs with these fabulous artists and is now working on her own album. Her style is a mixture of latin boogaloo, funky cha cha, guajira and caribbean music. Recently she scored a number 1 hit on the top 40 in Curacao with the song “Korsou ta nifika kas pa mi” with the group Ola Caribense, from which she wrote the lyrics (in her native language Papiamentu). She is widely known and referred to as “La Sonera de Europa”. With her new single “La Vida es un Carnaval”, where Brazilian music meets salsa music, Yumarya wants to launch her own project (June 2014). ¡A bailar! Yumarya is known to be unique and explosive on stage for having a powerful voice and dynamic stage presence. She interprets different genres in Latin music with great versatility: from Cuban traditional folklore to contemporary salsa music, latin-jazz, world music fusion to romantic bolero