Luna, Luedji
Um Corpo No Mundo (180g)
Born Luedji Gomes Santa Rita in 1987 in Salvador, the Bahian capital in Brazil's north east, she was named "Luedji" by her parents in homage to a queen of the Lunda people of Congo and Angola. As Luedji says: "There's a reason I have an African name. My parents are part of the black militancy movement and designed their children as fighting weapons." Initially Luedji intended to continue along the path of her parents' political work and graduated in Law. But she also studied music at the Federal University of Bahia, and ultimately its lure proved too strong. She moved to Sao Paulo where in 2016 she released the single "Um Corpo No Mundo" (body in the world). YouTube popularity ensured an album would follow, and in 2017 this provided her with a further hit in the Axe (pronounced ashe) styled "Banho De Folhas" (bath of leaves). With its distinctive African guitar motive, courtesy of guitarist Francois Muleka, it became popular among DJs, and at last count has received four official remixes. The album was produced by Sebastian Notini from Sweden who worked on Oumou Sangare's "Mogoya" album, and among others has produced Tigana Santana and Virginia Rodriguez from Bahia. Its reception combined with Luedji's powerful presence resulted in a slew of awards, not least the Afro 2017 (Premio Nacional de Expressoes Culturais Afro-brasileiras), and the 'Revelation' categories of both the Caymmi (Premio Caymmi de Musica) in 2017 and at Sao Paulo's SIM convention in 2018.