London born singer Laura Venegas-Rojas has announced her first solo album “Iroko” set for release on 12th November 2026 on all major streaming platforms. Rooted in the music and culture of her Chilean parents and shaped by an Essex upbringing, Laura has developed a distinctive and inimitable voice that moves naturally between cultures, languages and musical traditions. The album marks a significant point in her career as the generational baton passes to her from her father Mauricio Venegas-Astorga as lead singer for the Anglo-Dutch-Chilean group Quimantu. It is a transition that makes Iroko as much an album about continuity and inheritance as it is about finding an individual artistic voice.
Inspired by the West African iroko tree, symbolising strength, endurance, and continuity across generations, the breadth of vocal styles and expression she achieves across the album reflects the artistic maturity Laura has acquired over recent years of touring and recording. Through the twelve songs she has selected for Iroko she allows her wonderful voice to thrive between tenderness, strength and contrasting emotions, approaching with ease the tradition and the soul of Latin-American songs layering this with her English influences to open a whole new world in the field of folk music in the UK.
At the centre of the album is Laura’s remarkable and versatile voice. Which has been developed through a lifetime of performance, whether that was singing at home with her father, as a young performer on West End stages, or touring and recording with Quimantu through her teenage years all the way up to now. Iroko builds on those experiences while allowing her to step forward with a musical identity entirely her own. The breadth of vocal styles and expression across the album reflects an artist who has spent years absorbing traditions, performing them and discovering how they connect with her own story.