A new single in honour of International Women’s Day has a special significance for a Winnipeg singer-songwriter.
Diamante, released Tuesday, is the latest recording by Onna Lou, an accomplished Argentinian artist who has made Winnipeg her home since 2016.
“The song is called Diamante, which means ‘diamond,’ and I took this material to talk about strength — about inner strength,” she told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg.
“The song talks about the conditioning and harshness that we women go through in life, but I thought about the song like a hymn — like an anthem for freedom for anyone who is being oppressed.
“We all go through challenges and pain in our life especially when you’re being discriminated or dismissed as a person for who you are, or a victim of violence, it’s easy to believe you are weak. My song wants to remind anyone who needs it of our tremendous inner strength and that we have the ability to change our situation.”
The song, which will be the title track of Onna Lou’s new album, expected in late April, is a continuation of her musical and cultural fusion — combining pop, rock and folk with traditional Latin American genres like tango, salsa and beyond.
“Each song of the 12 songs is kind of a world, a micro-universe,” she said. “I’m really, really thrilled to be sharing this music in Winnipeg, in Canada, with everyone.
“It was a big question mark when I moved here in 2016 — will people like what I do? Will anyone pay attention? But it turns out that Winnipeggers are very open to music from other countries, in other languages.”
A graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., and a performer at the 2013 Latin Grammys, Onna Lou has the pedigree for international success, but she says the message in the songs is equally as important — especially on days like International Women’s Day.
“We need to keep talking — keep the conversation alive — because there’s so much to be done still, and so many people are willing to forget about this and keep going the way things are,” she said.
“There’s so much that needs to change for all of us to enjoy a better world.”