The Press:

"She is an excellent performer who knows how to create the sunny and boisterous atmosphere that belongs to Cuban music... Acosta is an energetic presence, who passionately attends to the Cuban heritage."
    De Stentor

"Acosta has a warm and vivacious voice... capable of acrobatic tricks... Spirited and sensitive interplay."
    NoordHollands Dagblad

"She has a perfect voice - supple, secure and pleasant sounding - and a beautiful diction. Now dreamy and contemplative, then again on top of every note. Sometimes lovely and charming, then again broad and authoritative"
    Gooi- en Eemlander

"Acosta has a warm voice and a sunny and relaxed stage presence. She masters the vocal aspects of both latin- and jazz music (and) has surrounded herself with excellent musicians."
    Rik van Boeckel - JazzPodium.nl

    CD Alma Guajira:

"Estrella's singing is clear and without frills, the coros sound right to the point and the arrangements provide ample space for the musicians to shine... Those who like an honest meal on their plate, rather than fancy morsels and insipid hypes, should check Estrella out."
    NRC Handelsblad

"...Excellent Cuban music that is fun to listen and dance to, and where the traditional and the contemporary are very well combined and balanced. Congratulations! "
    Juanito Marquez (guitarist/composer/arranger) 

"...a happy transatlantic party that takes off and soars!"
    Luis Tamargo, Latin Beat Magazine, USA. 2006

About Estrella Acosta

Cuban vocalist Estrella Acosta is one of the most versatile singers living is Europe. Though she never stopped singing the folk songs of her motherland, she is at home with Brazilian and jazz styles. With her relaxed phrasing and warm, earthy voice she brings a fresh innovative approach to Cuban music.

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in cultural anthropology, she studied singing and started her first band playing a blend of jazz, Brazilian and Cuban music. She lived in Mexico City, New York, and Rio de Janeiro and finally found her home in Amsterdam, where she now lives. Estrella has performed with great musicians like Toninho Horta, Craig Handy, Edy Martinez, Mauricio Einhorn, Claudio Roditi, Ramon Valle, Jovino Santos Neto and Jimmy Branly.

In 1996 she brought out her first cd Navegando de La Habana a Rio featuring her lyrics and compositions by participating musicians, Brazilian pianist Luizão Paiva and Uruguayan guitarist Leonardo Amuedo. This recording received enthusiastic reviews from the Dutch and international press.

On her second cd Alma Guajira, nominated for an Edison (Dutch Grammy), Estrella takes you on a trip through the Cuban countryside with her fresh take on traditional songs, played with all the flavor and spontaneity that is so typical of this music, la música guajira. The recording is a tribute to her motherland and to her family from San José de los Ramos in the province of Matanzas, where she spent much of her youth. Together with her team of the best Cuban musicians in Europe, who know how to make the music swing, Estrella presents a new outlook on the música guajira combining this traditional style with contemporary arrangements and original interpretations.

Estrella has appeared at the Brussels Viva Brasil Festival, the Curaçao Jazz Festival, the Heineken Jazz Festival, the Dunya Multicultural Festival and three editions of the North Sea Jazz Festival. She performed at renowned clubs like the BIMhuis (Amsterdam), Sounds of Brasil (New York City), Ronnie Scott's (London), and at all major venues in the Netherlands.

The Dutch VPRO television show Vrije Geluiden invited Estrella and her band for a feature on their program. It was broadcast Sunday May 6, 2007 on the Nederland 2 channel. She participated with her full band and also in duo with Cuban guitarist/tresero Carlos Irarragorri.

In September 2007, Estrella's Guajira band toured the USA and Canada playing at renowned festivals such as the Madison World Music Festival, World Music Chicago 2007 and Small World Music Festival in Toronto.

Estrella is one of the featured artists on the cd and live performances of bandoneon-player Carel Kraayenhof's project "Memorias de Cuba" (released June 2008), including concerts at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and in Eindhoven with the Metropole Orchestra led by Jurre Haanstra in September of that year. A DVD of this production is in the making.

October 2008 saw Estrella performing two concerts as a soloist: in Anchorage at the Alaska Native Heritage Center (with a.o. Cuban percussionist Jimmy Branly), and at Bake's Place in Seattle with the trio of Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos Neto.

She is currently performing a new project of Cuban music which is being presented in the Dutch theaters.