Ana Bulnes & the UK Latin Scene

Ana Bulnes has had quite a journey in the past few years. 

Born and raised in Honduras, she knew from a young age she wanted to have a career in music. She began producing at 15, and studied cinematographic production at university in Argentina before a health issue forced her to return home. After that, she picked up and traveled to Denmark, attending a specialized hojskule. 

“Hojskules are something from Scandinavian culture, it’s a school designed for people who don’t know what to do after they’ve graduated,” she explained. A boarding school that operates in six-month time blocks, hojskules concentrate on a variety of different topics, allowing students to focus on different lines like singing, dancing, song-writing, sports, engineering, and more. Bulnes studied sound engineering in the year she spent at her hojskule, and said the best memory was getting to go on tour with students from other disciplines, collaborating and living together and getting to experience what it would be like in their professional careers.

Following her graduation, she traveled next to London to study music production at uni. 

“The weather is worse in Denmark, if you were wondering,” she told me, laughing. “In Denmark it was really dark and cold.”

The differences between Denmark and the UK were more than just meteorological. Bulnes enjoyed uni, but it wasn’t what she expected. The high prices and reduced social life were a marked change from the collaborative nature of the hojskule. She was also the only woman in the B.A. program, and she experienced for the first time “what it was to be a woman in the industry.” She shared an anecdote about a professor who graded her essay more harshly than that of her classmates, saying that “because you’re a woman, you have to work extra hard.”

More than that, she experienced racial stereotyping and xenophobia from her classmates and professors. “Things like migration would always be so harsh for some reason,” she said of classmate discussion. When creating Latin-inspired music for class, the lack of exposure was especially evident. “When I did a salsa track for a world music genre, they would say ‘Oh, it’s so summery,’ and stereotype a lot.”

It’s an attitude she has found reflected in the UK music scene overall. 

When she found the Latin music scene in university, they were not very visible beyond their community. There has been a growing push to increase exposure and gain equal opportunities in the industry without being shunted into the “Other” genre. A lot of it comes from a lack of representation within the industry— at record label events, Bulnes has found they practically discount that the category exists. 

“Spanish-speaking music is left to Spain. There was a time when the UK worked with this [genre], but now they don’t care like they used to.” 

The lack of opportunity comes from the lack of visibility. 

“There has to be more flexibility– Latin artists are well represented in the Billboard. Bad Bunny is playing at the Super Bowl! They just don’t want to see it.”

However, things are slowly building up momentum. Festivals like the Great Escape have been supportive of the scene, but the real all-star events come from within the tight-knit community.

“There’s an event called La Vuelta, for afrohip in Brixton. The quality of artists that they have is so good, a lot of artists who are starting out,” Bulnes raves. “I’ve performed there three times, and it's always busy and the energy is so good.”

There is clearly no shortage of fantastic artists in the UK Latin scene. Bulnes never seems to run out of new artists to mention, from Diosa the Healer, Milena Sanchez, Sachellys, Mike Kalle, Makel G, and Sophie Castillo. She continually gives the community its flowers, and she says it best in our initial email conversation. “Each of them brings something unique — from Latin soul and reggaeton to amapiano-inspired sounds and alternative R&B — reflecting the diversity and creativity of today’s UK-Latin community.”

In terms of her own musical career, Bulnes is just getting started. 

Following her graduation from uni, she stuck around in the UK, where she decided to focus more on becoming an artist.

“When you do too many things, you do nothing. I wanted to focus on being a really good artist and a really good singer.” While she still loved to produce and remained involved, most of the production was delegated to her uni classmate Erricone, who has been managing her sound since their school days. 

Key word, most. 

Bulnes still remains heavily involved in her production and the direction she wants to travel with her sound. “I’m like the female version of Rick Ruben– I’m as much a producer as a beatmaker.” And she refuses to be tied down in that, either.

Working with producers like KC and Steph London, Bulnes has created a very unique pianolatino sound, though she refuses to ascribe herself to any one genre. She refers to her music as genre blending, citing earlier pop influences, afropiano and pianolatino aspects, and a recent branching out into RNB and South African references. She has a “major listening ear,” and listens to a variety of genres and artists. 

“We’re exposed to so much, you can’t just listen to one artist anymore,” she explains. “There are so many different options I find every day; the TikTok algorithm is just sending me artists.” It's evident to see in a list of musical influences that range from Kehlani and Kali Uchis to Christina Aguilera and Ariana Grande. One of her newest singles, ‘My Future,’ fuses those elements together into an enchanting, vibey dive of a track, with Bulnes’ clear vocals shining through it all.

Which, speaking of her future, Bulnes has plenty in mind. 

“I can say proudly I will be releasing a song every month for the next year and a half,” she shared. In the short term, consistency is key— she hopes that her numbers will grow through a combination of upcoming festival dates and her musical honesty and consistency. Long term, she wants to become the representation of her country in the music industry around the world. Honduras has a small footprint in the global music scene, and has never had an artist win a Grammy. 

Ana Bulnes hopes to be the first.