Home » Jazz Musicians » Lupa

Lupa

Lupa: singer song-writer, producer, arranger, band leader and founder of indie label Lupamusic.

Lupa, Italian-born/raised in Milan now resident in the UK, begun her artistic career at the age of three with classical piano lessons and modeling for the house of 'VOGUE Children' magazine in Milan. She studied the Dramatic Arts in Italy (training with popular and controversial theatrical duo FRANCA RAME and winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature DARIO FO') and in England where she obtained L.A.M.D.A (London Academy Of Music & Dramatic Arts) acting qualifications. Lupa pursued the acting vocation on the British stages and screens being featured in various independent stage productions and short films. In 1994 she translated, adapted and performed the acclaimed Italian 'ONE WOMAN SHOW' at the Charles Cryer Studio Theatre in south London, an 80 mins-2 acts political farce written by Franca Rame and Dario Fo'. In 2000 Lupa became the face of the VIRGIN Mobile photographic campaign for UK 'See Red'.

Her musical calling came in 1996 when, during a trip to Los Angeles, at a party attended by ‘Prince’, she met Italo-American musicians Jules Buccieri and Chris Mancini (son of the composer Henry Mancini), who were to become dear friends and musical mentors, and British writer Dick Hebdige (former MD at the Californian Institute of Arts now Professor of Film Studies and Art Studio Director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center at UCSB Santa Barbara CA).

Lupa has since been writing, arranging, producing recordings, collaborating and performing with a number of local and international talents including: Pavel Jakub Ryba (CZ), Bryan Corbett (UK), Sandro & Alfonso Deidda (Italy), Roger Inniss (UK) , The Birmingham Ronnie Scott’s House Trio (UK), Tj Rehmi (UK), Dj Pippi (Ibiza/Spain), Tom Hill (UK/USA), Paul Sawtell (UK), Edgar Macias Piquero (UK/Venezuela), Andy and Graham Hamilton (UK), Miles Levin (UK), Zoltan Dekany (UK/USA) Soweto Kinch (UK)...

In 2005 Lupa released a debut album CD 'HOUSE OF BLUE' on the Lupamusic label, a collection of recordings of original compositions including the re- working of 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' (a tribute to her favourite artists Charlie Mingus and Joni Mitchell) and of 'Brucia La Terra' (the love theme from the Godfather written by Nino Rota and Giuseppe Rinaldi). Lupa recorded 'Brucia La Terra' during the pre-production of Francis Ford Coppola "The Godfather 4" and then met F.F.Coppola in San Francisco to discuss the inclusion of the track in the film sound track. The film ultimately never entered production. The album CD HOUSE OF BLUE is available on sale through her on line distributer www.jazzcds.co.uk, a direct link can be found on Lupa's official website LUPAMUSIC.COM.

Read more

Tags

2
Album Review

Lupa: Koki // Sketches of Trees

Read "Koki // Sketches of Trees" reviewed by Vitalijus Gailius


Lupa is a Latvian four-piece band. Their music fluctuates between funk, soul, electronic and jazz. In 2019 Lupa released their warmly welcomed debut album, Sequences and Consequences (Jersika Records, 2019). Koki // Sketches of Trees is the follow-up. The album features eleven tracks with a heavy electronic influence. The band follows its debut aesthetic direction but with a more energetic, even slightly aggressive, attitude. While the use of keyboards and synths gives the Koki // Sketches of Trees ...

Read more articles
Lupa is something of an exotic. Her chosen name Lupa, or she-wolf, has associations of pagan magic and ancient Rome, savagery and maternity. It takes a lot of living up to, yet she inhibits it with flair. Musically, she fluctuates between melodic psychedelic-tinged originals and radical makeovers of jazz standards. Her life is as unique as her music. Born and raised in Milan, as a youngster Lupa was student of classical piano and a child fashion model for Vogue. She studied at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama (now Birmingham School of Acting), and England’s second city became her adopted home, with forays to Los Angeles and Italy, where she worked with the anarchist farceur Dario Fo’. An encounter at an LA party hosted by Prince was crucial: henceforth her creative energies were exclusively focused on music. House Of Blue, her debut album, crosses language and genre. A woozy dreamscape, conjured by lush meshes of electronic sound, contrasts with Lupa’s pure voice and, indeed, with Bryan Corbett’s stark, beautiful trumpet. The glittering setting can’t altogether disguise the fact that Lupa’s desperate love songs • always treading the thin line between tenderness and torment • spring directly form the torch song tradition. She’s an accomplished actor and singer too, permanently on the brink yet never sacrificing control. Her breathy sensitivity and impressive scat singing proclaim a natural jazz singer. Mike Butler - Metro, Metro Life / Jazz - July 2007

Read more

Photos

Music

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.