Tulipa Ruiz tours five cities in China
Brazilian singer and song writer Tulipa Ruiz is a smash in Asia. She arrived in China just a few days ago for a tour including five cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Qingdao and Lijiang. The powerful voice of Tulipa fits perfectly the melodious sounds of the guitar played by her brother, Gustavo Ruiz.
“I have no idea of how this trip will be. I have been dreaming about it!”, said the singer in her Instagram account before going to China. Excited, she wrote a text based on the dreams about the tour she had been dreaming. The artist described her dreams, which involved tigers and Chinese ancestors: “In my dreams, they are origami tigers and they were cut out with a pair of scissors”.
Tulipa landed on the Asian continent in the beginning of January and wrote: “We are just fine now, after a long flight in which I thought my back and my nose would fall apart. Beijing is cold, but we had a warm welcome”. In the last city of the tour, Lijiang, the singer and her brother will go to a studio with local artists to record a song, as part of the cross-cultural project called “China Tropical”.
The setlist for the tour focuses on pop music, but Tulipa gives it her own touch by fusing it with elements of the music made in the Brazilian States of Bahia, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. The artist describes her style as “anthropophagic” and combined with Brazilian culture.
Tulipa’s influences say a lot about her music. She says she has learned how to sing by listening singers and song writers such as Joni Mitchell, Gal Costa, Ná Ozzetti, Zezé Motta and Baby Consuelo. Her last album, released in 2017, is entitled “TU” – uppercased to highlight the spelling of the word and emphasize its meaning. “TU [you] means me and means you. TU means us. TU also means two. Me and Gustavo, my brother. TU means to. It’s an offering”, explains the singer.
The siblings Tulipa and Gustavo were born in a musical family in the port city of Santos, in the State of São Paulo. In her teens, the singer worked in a record store in the city of São Lourenço, in Minas Gerais. At the age of 22, she moved to São Paulo to study Communications & Media and worked for 10 years as a journalist in that city.
While she was still a college student, she used to perform occasionally with bands of some friends, like, for example, Brazilian popular music singer Tiê. It was only in 2008 that Tulipa decided to start a career as a music artist.
Listen to the last song released by the singer: