Maarja Nuut is a fiddler and singer from Northern Estonia. Her music combines traditional dance tunes, songs, and stories with live electronics to create an intricate layered soundscape in a space where minimalism and experimental music meet the village musical traditions of pre-war Europe.
Maarja in performance searches for a lively and relaxed state like a cat poised to leap. She says this state "gives rise to music and makes me want to prolong being in the moment while altering ways of seeing, hearing and perceiving. It is always “now” and old tunes are as fresh as improvisations which were born a second ago”.
This is how she tells us her intimate stories using fiddles, her voice and modern electronics.
In the spring of 2013, Maarja released her debut album “Soolo” that generated a small buzz in Europe, including many glowing reviews as well as favourable comparisons to Czech avant-garde violinist Iva Bittová and a Twitter shout out from Duran Duran front man Simon Le Bon. Maarja has toured the USA, Canada and Europe, won the Artist Award at Tallinn Music Week, and made a very successful showcase at the WOMEX International Conference in Spain. Since then Maarja has been selected to play at various important showcase festivals such as Eurosonic Noordeslag, APAP, Mundial Montreal, Folk Alliance International, MENT Ljubljana, Lost In Music etc.
Her second album, ‘Une meeles’, was released internationally June 3 2016
Violin, Vocals: Maarja Nuut