Lura, born Maria de Lurdes Pina Assunção (born 1975 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a singer and musician. Born in Portugal to Cape-Verdian parents, she considers herself as a Cape-Verdian. Her compositions are based on traditional Cape-Verdian music as for example the Morna, Funaná and Batuque, and influenced by African and contemporary Western music. Lura was born in Portugal to Cape-Verdean parents in 1975. Her father came from Santiago and her mother from São Nicolau. Initially she wanted to become a dancer or a swimming instructor. She became a singer at the age of seventeen when Juka, an artist from São Tomé and Príncipe, asked her to sing a duet with him for a music album. The album became a success, and subsequently she participated in productions by artists such as Bonga, Tito Paris, Paulo Flores and Paulinho Vieira. In 1996 she recorded her first album Nha Vida with her own compositions. In 1997 she participated in the AIDS awareness project Red Hot + Lisbon among famous artists such as Caetano Veloso, Marisa Monte, Djavan, Bonga and Teresa Salgueiro. Further album productions and concerts all over Europe followed. In 2007 she sang her song Morna in the film Fados by Spanish film director Carlos Saura.
