Mónica Giraldo

Originating from Colombia, singer-songwriter Mónica Giraldo issued three independent albums before securing a Best New Artist nomination at the 2008 Latin Grammys. Her work fuses pop and jazz with an array of Latin rhythms, frequently compared to a Latin counterpart of Norah Jones, and stays rooted in acoustic textures while remaining fully contemporary. Born in Bogota, she trained in music at Universidad de los Andes there and later earned a 1999 scholarship that led her to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Her first full-length solo album, the self-released Mónica Giraldo of 2002, documented a live set recorded that April at the BPC in Boston. She followed it with the self-released studio album Muy Cerca in 2005, produced by Felipe Alverez in Bogota. Her third release, Todo da Vueltas from 2008 and produced by Mauricio Pantoja, appeared through the independent Colombian label Codiscos and drew enough acclaim to earn the Latin Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.