Kiki Bello Kiki Bello
| Kiki Bello Kiki Bello | |
|---|---|
| File:Kiki Bello.jpgKiki_Bello.jpg Bello in Andaz Wall Street NYC | |
| Native name | Enki Bello |
| Born | Enki Semíramis Bello Maldonado.[1] 1991/02/26 Bogotá, Colombia |
| 🏡 Residence | Miami, FL |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Colombian |
| Other names | Kiki Bello |
| 🏫 Education | Santa Rosa de Lima |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Bergen Community College[2] William Paterson University[3] Saint Thomas Aquinas University |
| 💼 Occupation |
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| 📆 Years active | 1999–present |
| Known for | Pioneer of the Electric Harp and Singer-Songwriter |
| Works | Founder of Electric Harp Manufacturing Company - Harpy Harps USA® |
| 🏡 Home town | Bogotá |
| 💰 Net worth | 500,000 dollars |
| Height | 5.7' |
| 👴 👵 Parent(s) |
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| 👪 Relatives |
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| 🌐 Website | www.kikibello.com |
| kikibellomusic/ | |
| kikibellomusic/ | |
Enki Semíramis Bello Maldonado aka Kiki Bello; born February 26th, 1991 is a Colombian singer-songwriter, electric harpist, record producer and music business entrepreneur.[1][5] Born and raised in Bogotá. Kiki is the pioneer of the Electric Harp in the Latin pop music industry.[6] Journalists and celebrities have shared and commented on her music on social media. Her videos have collected around 130 million views.[7] Kiki Bello has been interviewed on Latin TV networks such as Telemundo, Univision, News 12, Caracol Television and RCN Television. Kiki Bello has been an opening act for Grammy Award artists including Cissy Houston, Zacarias Ferreira, Binomio de Oro, John Alex Castaño and Cholo Valderrama.
Early life and family
Kiki Bello, previously known as Enki Bello was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She is the youngest Child of Jaime Bello, an Architect and Civil Engineer and Luz Alma Maldonado, a retired Lawyer and Professor of Social Sciences and Literature. In 1983, Kiki’s parents met at the school of music “Luis A. Calvo”, while taking harp lessons.[8] In 1995, Kiki and her brother Pedro Bello-Maldonado were enrolled at the “Nueva Cultura” music academy hosted by National University of Colombia.[9] The academy taught children everything about Colombian folk music. Kiki and Pedro were exposed to different instruments and genres of traditional music. Later in 1996, they took Joropo dance lessons at the Centro Cultural Llanero. They were exposed to traditional Llanera music from the Eastern Plains of Colombia.
Music career
Early years
On July of 1997, at age 6, Kiki began taking her first Harp lessons with her father Jaime A. Bello who was an advanced-level harpist. In 1999, Kiki and her brother Pedro[10] were enrolled in a local school of harp, Academia Llano y Joropo.[11] They learned Colombian traditional music as well as other type of instruments including the “cuatro” and “maracas”. The same year, Kiki and her brother started performing together at family and friend’s gatherings as well as school events. Kiki describes “My very first gig ever was at an Elementary School. I was nine years old and I got paid enough to buy a pair of sneakers. That was the first time I made money with music”.[12] Kiki mastered her harp talent with the well-known pedagogue and harpist Hildo Ariel Aguirre throughout her teenage years.[13] Along with playing different instruments, Kiki was inspired by her mother Alma Maldonado to sing and write poetry. Kiki learned with Alma the craft of writing poems and singing traditional family songs, which contributed to her songwriting skills.[14]
2006 - 2008: Local Venues and First Recordings
In 2006, at the age of 15, Kiki and her brother along with her father and uncle Germán Bello, a civil engineer, formed their first band called “Maguaré”. The family band managed to perform local events and public venues, getting great exposure and experience on live performing. Kiki gained multiple skills on playing and singing traditional Colombian music. In 2007, Kiki Bello participated in multiple national folk music competitions ranking 1st and 2nd places.[15] In 2008, after almost ten years of music training, Kiki became a harp teacher at the same academy “Llano y Joropo”. Kiki gave music lessons to children, adults and elders. In the same year, Kiki participated in the album “Arpas de Colombia” featuring 17 harpists of the Llano y Joropo Academy.]][16]. Kiki explored for the first time the art of recording and got inspired to later record her first debut-album as a solo performer.
2009 - 2010: First Tour and Debut Studio Album
In 2009, Kiki won the music competition "Jovenes Interpretes" and went on a Colombian National Tour as a featured act funded by the Republic Bank of Colombia.[17][18] During the same year, Kiki’s mother received a retirement bonus and was able to help pay the cost of Kiki’s first solo Album “The Magic of the Harp”. While in the recording process, Filmaster Records offered to sponsor the printing of the album as well as the promotion in exchange of becoming one of their in-house artists. After the official release, Kiki’s mother encouraged her to pursue music as a professional career. On September 26th of 2010, Kiki and her family moved to the United States.
2011-2015: College, Transition to the Electric Harp and Second Studio Album
In the fall of 2011, Kiki Bello enrolled at Bergen Community College[19] of New Jersey majoring in “Music Business” and transferred to William Paterson University[20][21][22] from New Jersey majoring in the bachelor’s program of "Popular Music Studies", which prepared her to understand the industry of music. In the same year, Kiki Bello got signed with an independent record label, Filmaster Pruducciones. In 2013, Kiki discovered Deborah Henson-Conant[23], an American blues harpist from Stockton, California. Deborah is the creator of the strap-on harp, which allows physical freedom on stage. Kiki got incredibly inspired by Henson and made a transition to the Electric Harp DHC named after her. Kiki started incorporating her fingering techniques from the traditional Colombian harp into the Electric Harp.[24] In 2014, Kiki released her second album “Rocking On Harp” featuring original songs as well as famous covers on the Electric Harp. Kiki graduated from William Paterson University of New Jersey in the spring of 2015.
2016 - Present:
In January of 2016, after her College graduation, Kiki Bello founded the Company Bello Entertainment allowing her to financially support her music career.[25] On August 14th of 2018, Kiki posted a cover of “Despacito” performed at a Rio hotel room in Las Vegas. The video has reached approximately 108 million views combined from multiple pages on Facebook making her break the record of the most watched harp video cover of all time. On April 5th of 2018th, Kiki was chosen as the opening act for the Bachata singer Zacarias Ferreira on his one-time show in Danbury, Connecticut. Bello performed a 10-minute set getting a great audience response.
On October 10th of 2018, Kiki performed at the Verizon’s headquarters in Basking Ridge, New Jersey on a Verizon’s live webcast seen by 300,000+ people. Kiki played her original single Dame Damelo in promotion of social consciousness by Hispanic artists. On June 13th of 2019 Kiki performed for the Whiskey Corporation Hennessy for the product launch “Paradise Imperial Cognac” in New York City. As an aerialist dropped down from the high ceilings, Kiki accompanied by a cellist, performed the song “Elements” by Lindsey Stirling. Investors and clients gave a standing ovation to Kiki's talent.
On July 12th of 2019 Romeo Santos published on Instagram and Facebook a video of Kiki performing his newest single “Inmortal”. In a few hours it reached over 300,000 views. Celebrities and personalities positively commented on the video. On August 17th of 2019, Kiki Bello took the BOK Financial Stage at the Global Fest in Aurora, Colorado and performed in front of more than 4,000 people.[26]
Philanthropy
Kiki has performed and donated her talent to numerous non-profit organizations that focus on the welfare of communities and people.[27] In 2013, Kiki performed at the Hackensack Hospital for Children with cancer. In the same year Bello donated a performance at the Latin American Harp Festival “Arpas de America” in Arlington, VA collecting funds for “Teatro de la Luna” which focuses on the growth of Hispanic arts.[28] In 2015, Kiki performed at the III Annual Voices for Hunger Benefit Concert for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and volunteered with a performance for the crowdfunding cancer research organization “Sound Affects” with the project Band Together, Fight Cancer" in NYC.[29] Kiki Bello has performed for multiple public libraries and museums in support of community events and affairs.[30]
Discography
Studio albums
- Colombian Harps (2008)
- The Magic of the Harp (2010)
- Rocking on Harp (2014)
- Electronic Christmas on Harp (2015)
Singles
- Vida (2014) * Cover
- Blank Space (2015) * Cover
- I Gotta Keep Going (2015) * Original
- Feliz Navidad (2015) * Cover
- Despacito (2017) * Cover
- Felices los 4 (2017) * Cover
- Mi gente (2017) * Cover
- Havana (2017) * Cover
- Perfect (2018) * Cover
- Dame Damelo (2018) * Original
- Enamorada de Ti (2019) * Original
- Mojito (2019) * Original
- Sexy Sexy (2019) * Original
- Soy Masoquista (2020) * Original
- Tusa - Parody (2020) * Cover
- Infraganti (2020) * Original
- FIFIS (2020) * Original
- Cafecito (2021) * Original
- Tin Marin (2021) * Original
- La Vida a tu Lado (2021) * Original
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Enki Semiramis Bello Maldonado". Suburban News New Jersey. Retrieved September 25, 2013. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "NJ.com - Suburban News" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ "Harpist and Singer-songwriter". Bergen Community College. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
- ↑ "Zach Matari & Enki Bello – Future Stars?". William Paterson University. April 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
- ↑ "Pedro D. Bello-Maldonado". University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
- ↑ "Meet Kiki Bello - Voyage LA Magazine". Retrieved March 18, 2020.
- ↑ "Kiki Bello Latin Harpist". List of anti-war songs. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
- ↑ "KIKI BELLO Electro Harpist". Wow attractions. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ↑ "Meet Kiki Bello - Voyage LA Magazine". Retrieved March 18, 2020.
- ↑ "Enki Bello y su arpa eléctrica". Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
- ↑ "Pedro D. Bello-Maldonado". University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
- ↑ "Enki Bello y su arpa eléctrica". Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
- ↑ "Meet Kiki Bello - Voyage LA Magazine". Retrieved March 18, 2020.
- ↑ "La propuesta de arpa eléctrica de Enki Bello". El Tiempo (Colombia).
- ↑ "COLARTE Patrimonio Cultural Colombiano. Enki Bello, Interprete Arpa Electrica". El Tiempo (Colombia).
- ↑ "Grabaciones en Vivo del "Tercer Festival de Arpa Criolla" Enki Bello 2do puesto categoría C" (PDF). University of Los Andes (Colombia) by Juan Camilo Llano Salamanca.
- ↑ "Latin American harp styles, techniques and repertoire are "trending" Enki Bello". Harping for Harmony by John Lozier. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- ↑ "Histórico de conciertos del Banco de la República - OPUS Enki Semíramis Bello, arpa (Colombia)". Bank of the Republic (Colombia).
- ↑ "Enki Semíramis Bello, arpa (Colombia)". Bank of the Republic (Colombia).
- ↑ "Adult English Literacy Student Success Stories, Enki Bello". Bergen Community College. 27 September 2017.
- ↑ "WPU Music Business & Pop Studies Programs Our Students, Enki Bello". William Paterson University.
- ↑ Managing Your Band - Sixth Edition: Artist Management, Enki Bello. William Paterson University. June 2017. ISBN 9781540013309. Search this book on
- ↑ "William Paterson University Names Students to Spring 2015 Dean's List, Enki Bello". William Paterson University.
- ↑ "Enki Bello, How did you go about finding a more modern harp?". Opening Doorz Journal. 17 August 2018.
- ↑ "La diosa del arpa eléctrica". El Espectador. 20 January 2015.
- ↑ "Why Small Businesses Matter in Danbury: Bello Entertainment". HamletHub Local News.
- ↑ "Global Fest features a performance by acclaimed Colombian electro harpist Enki Bello on the BOK Financial Stage". Aurora, Colorado Global Fest spotlights, The Denver Channel News. 5 August 2019.
- ↑ "A signature drink and the beautiful music of Columbian harpist Enki Bello" (PDF). Craftsman Farms at StickleyMuseum.org.
- ↑ "Latin American Harp Festival 2013, Enki Bello". Teatro de la Luna.
- ↑ "Band Together Fight Cancer, Enki Bello". Sound affects.
- ↑ "New York Times - Things to Do in New Jersey, Enki Bello, pop harpist". New York Times.
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