Biography
“Mariska is a real talent. Her writing is original and strong, her voice is fresh and emotional. One to watch.”
Mariska Martina is a singer-songwriter from Holland, born in 1993 to a Peruvian mother and Dutch father. She started playing cello at age 5 and soon dreamt of being a professional cellist. After being accepted into the young talent class of Ran Varon at the Hogeschool Voor de Kunsten in Utrecht, The Netherlands, she continued her studies after she graduated high school.
Mariska moved to London in 2015, after deciding that classical music was not a good fit after all. She made a dramatic change in her career and started a singer/songwriter course at LCCM with Roddy Matthews in October 2015. The year after she was accepted into the second year of jazz-vocals Bachelor Degree at the same college.
In November 2016 she founded her Quintet, and since then the quintet has already played at various prestigious venues like The Ruby Sings Show upstairs at Ronnie Scott's, at Jazz After Dark, the Stoke Newington Music Festival, Toulouse Lautrec and the Crazy Coqs at Brasserie Zédel. Mariska Martina has also played various shows for Sofar Sounds.
“She reminds me of a young Joni Mitchell” said Bronwyn Bidwell in an article in iSing Magazing, after seeing Mariska Martina perform for Sofar Sounds. Read the full article here.
Mariska Martina is inspired by Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux and Melody Gardot. But in some of her music you clearly hear the inspiration she gets from her semi-Latin roots and classical music background.
Discography
In May 2018 she released her debut-EP Something Blue, produced by Roddy Matthews, which showcases her many different talents and influences. The EP has a strong mental health theme with the title song Something Blue telling a story of sexual abuse. Listen to Something Blue below and find the full EP on Spotify, Deezer, iTunes, and all other online music streaming services.
In September 2018, Mariska Martina released her first single Tied Together, especially written for Amazon Prime Series Mafia Ties. The track has been warmly received with Mafia Ties-creator John Wilson even calling it “Grammy-worthy”. Listen to track below, or on any online music streaming service.
In April 2019, Mariska Martina released a jazz EP. Someday features the talents of Dave O’Higgins and Harrison Cole, along with Rod Oughton, Thomas Higgins and Liam Burton. The EP was produced and arranged by Mariska Martina and pianist Liam Burton and was released on April 29th at Toulouse Lautrec. Misty is permanently part of Deezer’s worldwide playlist ‘Women In Jazz’. Hope FM said: ‘Mariska has the kind of voice that makes you sit up and take notice.’ Listen to the title track below, and find the full EP on Spotify, Deezer, iTunes, and all other online music streaming services.
On November 3rd 2019, Mariska released her second original EP. Feathers is a four-track ode to self-love and hope in which Mariska sings about different aspects of mental health. During the launch at O’Neill’s Wardour Street, £600 were raised for MIND UK. The EP was named after the popular Emily Dickinson poem ‘Hope Is A Thing With Feathers’. Eartothegroundmusic called the EP’s third track Love Isn’t Enough “poppy, energetic and hopeful” and Lefuturewave said: “You can say without a doubt that Uncover Your Heart is a modern gem.”
Listen to Uncover Your Heart below and find the full EP on Spotify, Deezer, iTunes, and all other online music streaming services.
ENSEMBLES
Mariska Martina is available with band and without. The full band line-up is voice/guitar, guitar, drums and bass. Mariska also plays trio gigs with her drummer and bass player and solo gigs accompanying herself on guitar.
She also frequents the jazz scene with esteemed musicians like pianist Simon Wallace, guitarists Simon Goodwin and Luca Boscagin, and bass-player Yaron Stavi. She has played at Off Broadway, Toulouse Lautrec, Jazz After Dark, Brassérie Zédel and Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s.
For videos of her performances click here.
Contact & Links
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mariskamartinalondon/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mariskamartina/
Twitter https://twitter.com/Mariska_Martina
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5QVVP1GlLyZ6RfzaV-d6vA?view_as=subscriber
Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/mariska-martina
For all enquiries e-mail askmariskamartina@gmail.com