Juanita Euka

With Congolese and Argentinian roots and as the niece of rumba giant Franco, Juanita Euka boasts a unique music palette, fusing her African and Latin heritage to become one of the mainstays in London’s vibrant live music scene. Over the last eight years, she has worked with London Afrobeat Collective, the Cuban fusion band Wara and Latin / Afro big band Animanz and is now starting out on a new, exciting solo career.

Born in RD Congo, Juanita moved to Argentina at the age of 3 and first became involved in the arts whilst growing up in Buenos Aires, infusing the heady mix of sounds from the city and studying dance, drama and performance. “I attended my first school, Lycée Francais Jean Mermoz then an Armenian primary school, Armenio Argentino,” Juanita reflects, “and after I joined Santa Ana Secondary School, I started to become more focused on music. At my primary school, we used to sing Armenian songs and the national anthem ‘Mer Hayrenik’. I would act a lot there too in school plays; I enjoyed being on stage from an early age.”

Juanita’s upbringing also involved many different sounds in her household with two musically-minded parents: her father, who worked as a Diplomat in Buenos Aires for RD Congo (then Zaire) and a legendary uncle, the Congolese rumba legend Franco Luambo Makiadi. “My Congolese roots have been a constant in my life despite having never lived there properly,” she explains. “I left way too young to remember and only went back properly in 2010 but we always had the culture present in my life like the food at home and the cultural connection through my parents and family. Growing up, my uncle, Franco, was always part of my environment at parties and on VHS videos of TV channels from Zaire and we would often play his classic ‘Mario’ at home. We are all proud of that connection and my Dad was very close to him. His music speaks for itself - his legacy is huge and being part of that is incredible. Franco also had a brother called Bavon Marie Marie; I also liked his music and the way played. He was an amazing artist on his own right.

“Living from an early age in Argentina, I was exposed to a lot of different sounds,’ Juanita continues. “From African American artists to a vast variety of music from across the world, Dominican stars like Juan Luis Guerra, Congolese stars like my uncle and Papa Wemba and various music from Argentina such as Mercedes Sosa. Some of my main inspirations were (and still are) international Afro-Cuban artists like Celia Cruz and La Lupe and a wide variety of African and Afro-Latin music.” Juanita’s musical education widened even further with a trip to stay with family in Belgium, aged 9. “I remember watching MTV a lot there,” she continues. “Suddenly, I was exposed to a lot more music that we didn’t have so much in Argentina: En Vogue,...