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Venezuelan-born singer/songwriter Nella performs at WHBPAC this Saturday night.(Photo credit: Alessandro Martino)

She performs her concerts completely in Spanish, but anyone with a pulse would be able to understand what she’s saying, no matter what language they speak.

Therein lies the singularity of Nella Rojas, a powerhouse Venezuelan-born singer/songwriter who’s been on the professional music scene for nearly a decade and who refers to her style simply as “world music,” because of the various influences it draws from.

This Saturday, March 25, at 8 p.m., the Latin Grammy winner, who goes by Nella professionally, makes her South Fork debut at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, in a concert sure to please the masses.

Presented in part with OLA (Organizacion Latino Americana) of Eastern Long Island, an organization that serves immigrant and U.S.-born Latinos working and living in the five townships on the East End, the concert celebrates the Venezuelan-born singer, whose style is a melting pot of modern day pop and R&B with influences from Latin America to Andalusia (the southernmost autonomous community in the Spanish Peninsula).

“Nella’s voice and style together with her incredible achievements and Latin Grammy make this a perfect offering to our full community,” says Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA.

As a teenager, Nella emigrated from her beachy home of Porlamar, a major seaport on the Island of Margarita in the Caribbean Sea. After moving to Caracas then to Canada, she ultimately made her way to the United States and attended Berklee School of Music in Boston. Before graduating in 2011, she met Spanish producer, composer and collaborator Javier Limon, whom she credits with helping her find her unique sound and place in the professional music world.

In what she calls her musical language, Nella says she draws inspiration from several different genres of music, melding her influence from pop icons, like personal faves Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, with her Venezuelan background and Andalusian influences.

After her debut album Voy (I Go) received high critical acclaim and her hit “Me Llaman Nella” (“They Call Me Nella”) surpassed 1.4 million Spotify streams and 1.4 million views on YouTube, the track was named by The New York Times as one of the best songs of 2019, in any genre. That same year, she won a Latin Grammy and she hasn’t slowed down since.

“I think my music is part Andalusian mixed with my roots in Venezuela,” she says. “Plus pop, R&B and jazz. It’s a cocktail of all that in my voice.”

(Photo credit: Alessandro Martino)

Saturday’s performance in Westhampton Beach marks the singer’s first time performing in the Hamptons, following her performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City this Friday.

Both Perez and WHBPAC executive director Julienne Penza-Boone are, to say the least, excited for Nella’s performance.

“One of WHBPAC’S priorities over the last few years has been to be more inclusive and welcome in audiences previously underrepresented at the theatre,” says Penza-Boone. After co-presenting with Perez and OLA for several events in the past, she says Nella’s performance “is the natural next step in our cultural partnership,” adding, “I came to Nella through one of the agents we work with—he thought she would be a perfect fit, and as soon as I heard her music, I knew it, too! Happily, Minerva agreed, and we have both been excited to have this powerhouse Latin Grammy winner on our stage!”

“Everyone will enjoy this concert,” says Perez of this Saturday night’s performance, reminding, “She’s coming to us right after a Carnegie Hall concert. We have the opportunity to get the tickets now before tickets to a Nella show are impossible to get!”

Be sure to get your tickets, sooner rather than later, per Perez’s orders, by clicking here.

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