Maria Lopez is a fifteen year old girl from Almeria who is rapidly becoming a Japanese pop star under the stage name Yami Tabby. She has just released her first Japanese pop album which is rapidly rising up through the charts.
Yami says she has always been fascinated by Japanese culture and started learning the language at the age of seven so she could watch Japanese cartoons.
She became so proficient at the language that she started attending Japanese conventions across the country.
Last year she came second in the Anime song contest at the Catalan Manga convention, and she was offered a chance to join a Japanese TV programme called “Nodojiman The World”, a reality programme which offers international guests a chance to sing in Japanese.
She managed to get through to the finals of the programme in Tokyo, and a local music producer has since offered her a deal. Her album, called “Japani Beats!” has been released by Warner Music Japan. It was filmed here in the province.
Her stage name means nothing in Japanese – instead, Yami is her childhood nickname and Tabby is the name of her cat.