We spoke with Andrea Chaparro from Lulada Club

Lulada Club is a group composed entirely of women that plays a good number of Latin music genres such as salsa, bolero, cha cha chá, boogaloo, among others. These girls have a very interesting concept that caught our attention as soon as we checked their social networks, so we decided to get in touch with their director, Andrea Chaparro, who kindly agreed to talk to us and give us more details about the group she leads.   

Name of the orchestra ”Lulada” and how it emerged   

We found the name they chose for the group very curious, so Andrea went on to explain that Lulada is a Colombian drink, specifically Cali (the capital of salsa) that comes from the lulo fruit. She and her partner, who is also part of the orchestra, wanted to pay tribute to this city so important for their careers and for salsa in general.    

The idea came from several sessions and rehearsals in which they were deciding what name to use, but they always knew that they wanted it having to do with Cali. In the end, they thought that ”lulada” sounded very good and mixed the term with ”club”, which originated a result that they all liked.   

Why only girls? 

Andrea recognizes that having a Latin female orchestra is not a novel idea, far from it. In fact, she saw this concept in Cali in several all-female orchestras that have been around for decades, so she wanted to replicate that idea.    

About six or seven years ago, it was when she wanted to create an all-girl group and the opportunity was given to her in the framework of the pandemic. In Colombia, the artist had been playing with other all-male groups, but she began meeting other female musicians and instrumentalists and had the opportunity to organize a group for an event to which she and her saxophonist partner were invited. 

When we wanted to know more about the selection process of the members, Andrea noted that she did a sort of search on Instagram to see their work directly, but several of the girls were brought in and recommended by other members.   

Some of these girls had not had the opportunity to develop their skills because they were always underestimated in the Latin salsa scene for being female or very young, so Lulada Club has been a great opportunity for them to grow and evolve in music.   

She considers that they have all fit together very well with the group and understand each other perfectly most of the time, which is why she considers that they have been very fortunate to find each other and join their professional lives.    

Andrea and Lulada Club in New York 

At the moment, all of the members of Lulada Club live in New York and have no plans to move to any other place, since their greatest opportunities have been given to them in this city. 

She does say that they are completely open to the possibility of touring both nationally and internationally whenever they find it possible. Indeed, at present, they already have many invitations to attend concerts and festivals in many other cities in the United States, but they will not base the orchestra anywhere else.   

Both Andrea and the rest of the girls feel that their biggest audience is there and many people in positions of power are seeing what they are doing and taking them into account. People, club owners and event organizers have received them with open arms and have taken them into account for events of all kinds.   

One such event is SummerStage on August 2, whose main attraction will be the maestro Eddie Palmieri, who will be offering one of the last concerts of his career after announcing his retirement. It is a great honor for the girls to be able to open for this world-renowned artist who has contributed so much to salsa and Latin music since his beginnings.    

The news about their participation in the event made them very happy and feel that all their hard work has paid off.    

Genres played by Andrea and Lulada Club   

As we have mentioned at the beginning of this edition, there are several Latin genres played by Lulada Club such as salsa, cha cha chá or boogalo, but each one has its own audience. 

In that sense, Andrea said that they play a lot of hard salsa for dancers and classical music coming from the clubs in Cali. There are certain songs that can never be out of their repertoire such as ”Llorarás” by Oscar D’ León, ”La rebelión” by Joe Arroyo, ”Brujería” by El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, among others.   

In cases where we get a quieter audience, we can play a bolero or cha cha chá, but everything will depend on the reaction of those present to our performance,” said Andrea on this subject. 

In terms of their original songs, they have two recorded and their names are ”La Palma” ”Lulada ya llegó”, which has been very well received by those who have heard it.    

Undoubtedly, Lulada Club has a lot to offer to the audience and fortunately festival organizers and club owners are realizing the great potential of this group, and every day that passes they are taking more into account in their lineups.    

Read also: Allyson Briggs ”La Rubia de La Salsa”