Gig at Kalmar Jazzclub

The 11th of December I had a gig at Kalmar Jazzclub. It was together with some local musicians that I´ve played with before, several times, but never as a whole group. It was really amazing, after just one rehearsal we did a great concert with music written mainly by swedish jazzmusicians. We got great reviews from the audience and that gave us the idea to maybe continue playing together in the future.

The musicians were: Olof Nilsson; piano, Jonathan Lundberg; drums, Jens Nilsson; sax, Vlado Markovic; bass and me on vocals.

Thank you guys, it was great! And thanks to everyone that came to the concert!

Nefertiti in March

I´m playing at the jazzclub Nefertiti in March 2011. Check this out:

http://www.nefertiti.se/program/?view=1227

A visit to the school

Last Thursday I packed my bag and traveled to the eastcoast, that´s where I grew up by the way. I´ve been talking to the head master of the music education of Högalids Folkhögskola, Anna Brewitz, for a while now, about me visiting the school and talk to the kids about the University of Music and life afterwards. The kids are not kids, really, they´re more like 20-26. But anyway, I got the chance to pop by last friday and we had an amazing time. There where about 10 students present and they where really nice and TALENTED! After talking alot, discussing music and singing, we did this execise where everyone stands in a ring and someone does a short rythmic thing and repeats it, over and over again. And then the next person adds something on top of that, anything that the person feels like. And then it continues like that until everyone does something and wonderful music appears! Seriously, I was very impressed by them. So many innovating ideas. It was great!

In the end we talked about creating music and everyone said that they write music, more or less. That´s really gratifying, I´m very happy that they strive for finding their own way of expressing themselves. Like a finish, I played a song from my upcoming CD. They where the first once to hear it and I hope they liked it.

Thank you very much Högalid for having me! I had a blast!

Waiting...

My record is sent for mastering at Bohus Studio and I´m waiting for it to be done. Hopefully it won´t take too long and when it´s ready I will start design the cover. My dear friend Sanna Larsson will help me with some cool painted pictures and Calle Wärnelöv has been taking some real ones of me. My sister in law Anna Bohlin will do the layouts.

This will definitely be a kick-ass cover! Keep your eyes open for further information and maybe some...previews....

My record- Facing south

As I´ve told you all before (if you follow my blog) I´m planning my first record. It´s really hard work and it takes a lot of energy to think everything through, it has to be perfect! I´m really picky, good or bad; I dont know yet...

After alot of brooding I´m finally done with the mixing part and yesterday I got the CD from the sound engineer Christer Olofsson. I listened to it while I made dinner today (greek pie with chicken, feta and halloumi...nice) and I´m so proud! It´s not often that I can admit that I´ve done something good but this time I can honestly say that this sounds really nice. The music is great; the arrangements, the musicians, the sound, the vocals...everything! And I´m so, so, so very happy about this project.

Next step is sending the CD to mastering. I have a few connections and we´ll see what happens. I´ll keep you posted!

I want to take the opportunity and tell you about Christer Olofssons studio, Sunninge Sound. It´s located close to Uddevalla so it´s easy to travel there and if you ever hire Christer, you will get a sound of highest quality. Here´s his website:

http://web.me.com/sunningesound

My hairstyle

Uploaded a picture of my hairstyle from the photosession for my cd cover. It´s made by Malin Bohlin at Studio Konstrukt. If you ever need a haircut in Gothenburg, she´s the right person to visit.
Thank you Malin!

And so she became a...

...manager over her own record company "Maria Rylander Music", or "MaRy Music"!

It all started with my tour to Japan. After that I felt that I wanted to take my career seriously and do something about my situation, soon being graduated from a bachelor programme in music with no job. When it hit me, that I wanted to do a record, I realized that I could not do that without the help from the musicians I worked with in Japan. And therefor I brought the drummer Sebastiaan Kaptein to Sweden and with alot of help from Yasuhito Mori, managed to get a great soundengineer in Uddevalla, Christer Olofsson. Of course I had to have Simon Westman on piano, who else?! The recording went great and Im so happy.

I was lucky because my dear friend from Belgium, Vanessa Matthys, was free from commitments on the dates of recording. So she came over to Sweden and did some backup vocals on three songs. It was absolutely amazing!
I also got my dear friend Vyvienne Long from Ireland to do some celloparts on two songs. It was a bit hard to bring her to Sweden so we decided to send the music back and forth instead. I havent heard it yet but Im positive it´s going to sound wonderful!

After alot of thinking I decided to start my own record company. I dont want to go around to other labels asking and begging them to love me and to give me a record deal...it feel so time-consuming. So I do it myself, everything! With a little help from my friends of course.

This is the new trademark for my business. It´s painted by my talented friend Sanna Larsson.

My week at the Secret Festival

The Secret Festival 2010 is over.

It all started on sunday the 27th of June. I was very nervous that first day when I got into my parents car and drove to Sättra. The expectations was not necessarily high but I had an idea of what I hoped it would be like. I got there and everyone was eating breakfast so I grabed a cup of coffea and tried to get to know everyone. It was Manluckerz; a drummer, artist and performer from Zimbabwe, now living in Uppsala, David Flynn; a composer and guitarist from Ireland, Janne and Juhan Suits; a couple from Estonia who plays all kinds of ancient musicinstruments, Vyvienne Long; a cellist from Ireland who played, recorded and toured with very big artists and who now is working very hard on a solo career, Klas Ehnemark; a music producer who composes music for film and theatre and who also makes his own movies, John Leo Carter; from Ireland but now lives in Sättra at the Yellowbox, plays the guitar and composes music with an Irish touch, the brain behind the Secret Festival together with his lovely partner Helle Kvamme. The whole week was also being filmed by Anna Johansson; a girl who´s actually from Borgholm and I recognized her from school. Simon Johansson from Stockholm took photos during this week.

We got to work and since the whole idea was that everyone brought a piece of their own music, we had to play it solo in front of everyone. I brought a song I wrote the week before called "You cought my eye" and to play it alone on the piano was nerve wracking but I got through it.

The first thought when I heard the songs was that everyone was really talented musicians and composers. That felt really good ´cause then I felt like we could really work with the pieces and make something with a high musicial level.

We rehearsed for three intense days and everone got to know eachother better. Except meeting all the musicians I also got to know John and Helles beautiful family and their neighbours. They had a kick-off barbeque on tuesday with good food, lovely people, nice weather. A perfect night and a perfect beginning to all the concerts.

I can now tell you the locations for the concerts but as you know, it was a well kept secret before the concerts. That´s the secret part in the Secret Festival, the audience dont know to which location the bus goes to. This year it went to Vannborga, Stora brottet, Stora rör and Sättra; four very beautiful locations on Öland. We had a lot of other bands playing at the secret places like on thursday we had Anders Linder playing for and with us.

The last concert at Yellowbox in Sättra was absolutely magical! I think that everyone felt like that including the audience. The concert was a part of a celebration to the village of Sättra, so all the neighbours came over and people were selling all kinds of things in John and Helles yard. Manluckerz had a workshop in dance, John and Helles daughter sang, Dave and his girlfriend performed and so did Vyvienne and her Raoul. I stayed the night so that I could say a proper goodbye to everyone. It was a really nice evening.

This week was one of the best weeks in my life. I have never worked like this before but it was such an unique experience. I think that we were lucky that it was this group that got together, it´s all thanks to John and Helle who picked everyone for this project. This week has given me so many new friends that I wish I never loose contact with, it´s given me a new strenght as a composer and musician that I know I can do this, it´s given me new ideas and new input. I want to thank John and Helle and their family who opened up their home and their hearts for us and made us feel so welcomed. Thank you!

I want to finish with two songs. We got the opportunity to play live on the local radio and they were so kind that they posted it on their website. Scroll down and listen to my song and also Vyviennes fantastic piece "Seahorse":

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=3101

Cultural award

The 30th of April I was honoured to recieve "Borgholm Culture Award" founded by the association Lions Borgholm. It´s given each year to a person who´s been prominent in the culture sector on Öland. This year they gave it to me on this grounds:

"For her purposeful efforts to acquire further training in singing, music and composition and also for her great interest to spread the knowledge about jazz"

It feels really good to be acknowledged by people from my hometown, I can feel that they support me. I´m very happy for this award, thank you very much!

Secret Festival 2010

I´m glad to inform you all that in the end of June, I´m taking part in a festival called the Secret Festival. It´s a very exciting event happening on the island where I´m born and raise; Öland. John Leo Carter is the initiator of this project. He´s acctually from Cork in Ireland but moved to Öland in 2006 where he started a music and art center called the Yellowbox. This is what he writes on his website about his ideas:

"YELLOWBOX IN SÄTTRA becomes a place where 10 musicians work together during 3 days to find new musical arrangements. The Musicians will be introduced to the specific surroundings in order to partly be inspired by the place and also be informed about its unique qualities. Musicians from the region meet musicians from different nationalities and backgrounds. The Group lives and works together over the 3 days. The musicians will jointly compose a piece of music inspired by the place to be performed at the forthcoming concerts.

SECRET FESTIVAL A TRAVELING FESTIVAL : instead of the festival been based in the same venue and in a place that the audience will recognize, we will organize the event at a number of locations on Öland. It will be at a different place each night. Yellowbox arranges transport for the audience to be driven to the chosen sites, where the audience is presented with the unique musical concept."

I´m really looking forward to this amazing happening, it´s a privilege to be able to work like this with musicians from all over the world. This is all thanks to people who are dedicated and have the strength to work hard for what they believe in. If you feel that you want to encourage this sort of initiative and also listen to some good music, I think you should go to this website and read more about it:

http://hemligfestival.se/

Thank you and see you there! 30 June-3 Juli 2010! On Öland!

Listen to:

"Facing South" live at Pit Inn, Tokyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wwX_1RlxRY

Japan 2010

I´m home! I´m back in Sweden and I´m soooo happy for this A M A Z I N G tour! What an experience, I cant even describe the feelings. Let me tell you about it.

1st April
Me and Simon departed from Landvetter airport in the afternoon. It started a bit kaotic on the plane, when we were starting to move, a man began screaming that he wanted to get off. It was a bit scary ´cause I started to think about my own fear of flying. But he got off and the flight to Frankfurt went splendid. After a few mistakes trying to find our terminal, we met Mori-san and we three boarded the plane to Tokyo.

2nd April
11 hours later we entered Japanese territory and got a flight to Sapporo, Hokkaido. We met Sebastiaan Kaptein at the airport for the first time. He had departed from Okinawa earlier that afternoon, it´s in the south of Japan. The band was finally together!

A very nice man picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel in Tomakomai. In the evening we were invited to Yoshida-san and her lovely restaurant My blue heaven. We ate a fanastic dinner and drank so good sate. We were all a bit tired and excited for everything that was going on so it was really nice to relax a bit and get to know eachother. We also got really entertained by Simons tubaplaying, great sound!

3rd April
We got up early and packed our stuff into the rented minivan, destination Tobetsu and Sweden Hills Golfclub´s restaurant; “Leksand”. It was so funny, when we got there, it was like being back in Sweden. All the red little houses and the swedish flags everywhere, it was really nice. The golfclub had very beautiful surroundings and the resturant had great interior, very modern. We were so welcomed by the people there and we had a lovely lunch together with people working at the municipality ofTobetsu.

The first concert were really exciting, there were so many people there. We started with an interview for one hour, hosted by Hiroki-san. We talked about Sweden and the differences between Japan and Sweden. Mori-san did most of the talking, luckily. After a short break we started playing. It was so much fun, finally we started our tour. I was so eager and it went really well. We sold a lot of records and people were so nice afterwards. It felt good.

So we packed our stuff into the van and headed for Sapporo and the second gig that day. This time at jazzclub “Coo”, owned by very nice people, Yamamoto-san and his wife. We got lost a bit and were late for soundcheck so we didn’t eat anything before the concert. I had really low energy and was a bit jet-laged, it was hard to play the first set. But we came around and I feel that it was an okey concert. Not that many people but a very nice feeling about it and the club. Afterwards we got a meal and we cleaned the plates, nothing left. Very funny…

Back to Tomakomai and jazzclub Amida-sama were the party waited for us. Got a few drinks and then went back to the hotel right across the street. Slept very good that night. Like a baby!

4th April
Me, Simon and Sebastiaan started the day with a brunch at a restaurang. It was located in a mall and it was the first time I heard so much noises! It was everywhere! Music and melodies from slot machines, mixed together in a crazy blend of sounds. I was amazed, it was hard to believe that they acctually walk around in this environment and do their shopping. All this together with so many colors and blinking everywhere. Amazing!

In the afternoon we were supposed to rehears and do the soundcheck at Amida-sama. We got there and heard that Mori-san didn’t feel that good and that he was delayed. So we rehearsed everything but made it work for trio also, just in case.

We came back for the concert and the place was packed. We even got presents! Tsuru-san, the owner of Amida-sama, is such a funny and nice man. He really made us laugh, I needed that then. We played on trio first set and the second set we played as a quartet. Mori-san wasn’t well at all but of course, he did the concert like a pro. The audience was so great, we got so much energy from that. You could acctually feel the love coming from them, soooo nice people. Wonderful club! Love it!

Again, Yoshida-san made us a lovely dinner; sushi and sashimi and noodles and everything. We ate and talked and enjoyed, tried not the think too much about the future and the continuation of the tour.

5th April
Everyone gathered at Amida-sama for a final photo and to travel to the airport. This day we were headed for Tokyo to play at the jazzclub Pit-inn. We had a rented car waiting for us at Haneda airport and luckily we had Sebastiaan with us who were used to driving on the left side. After checking in at the hotel we had some time to relax and eat. Me and Simon were really surprised that Seven Eleven had quite good sushi, not hotdogs or discusting microwave heated fastfood. No…sushi…yummy…

Pit-inn was a small club with a very trendy interior, dark and cozy. I was really looking forward to the concert. It acctually didn’t come that many people and I was a bit stummed because the audience were so polite and quiet. So first set was maybe a bit hard but during the break, we got to talk to some of them and it started to feel better. After the concert I met Koji Okada, my myspace friend who came to listen to us. We got cookies as present, they were delicious! =)
We also met Simon Krusell and his girlfriend, very nice couple who lives in Tokyo.

Hungry, as always, Mori-san took us to a restaurant called Denny´s. You could think that this was fast food because of the name who just screams out american diner. Wrong, it was really, really nice food. The chicken was so good. This was something that we did a lot during the whole tour, eat on a late hour. It was necessary so I think I don’t have to have any bad conscience about that.

6th April
Roadtrip to Niigata, about four and half hour from Tokyo. We saw mountains with snow on the top and I shot a picture on bamboo! Beautiful! We had a lot of fun, we really started to get to know eachother and it was great. At the hotel in Niigata, I got a smoking room. That was bad…
So me and Simon took a walk in the neighbourhood , he tried to find a memorycard for his videocamera. Unsuccessfully, but we found a Starbucks who served soyalatte. Happy times!

Jazzflash, a really small club with fantastic decorating. So many things like porslin sculptures and posters everywhere. It was so nice, really enjoyed it. We also got sold out, sort of, the place couldn’t fit anymore people. And if I can say so, this was one of the best concerts for my part. I felt so supported by the crowd and musically, it was starting to come together. The reason why so many people came were because we got a very nice lady helping us with the PR. In newspapers, doing posters and even in radio. Thanks to that, we had a great concert.

We also had a guestmusician, a guitarrist named Fabio Bottazzo. He played a standard and also joined us on my song Cabaré of life. It was really great, he had a nice sound and he did very well on my song.

The PR lady and her friend together with Fabio and his wife joined us at a restaurant. Since Niigata is famous for its tasty fish and rice we went to a very traditional place. I´ve never eaten such things before and I really wanted to try everything. But I must say that the fried squid wasn’t one of my favourites, neither was the whole deep-fried little fish. Nothing wrong with the tastes, it was just the knowledge of me eating it that was hard. But over all, it was an amazing night. The sake was delicious! And the company was…fantastiskt… friends having fun.










7th April
I ate a bad sandwich in the morning and ended up puking. Wasn’t looking forward to traveling in a car for six hours. My stomach was aching so much, ojojoj. But I made it and we got in to Jazzflash, also a very special jazzclub decorated with porslin sculptures and stuff. This club was quite bigger but it didn’t really help. We got seven people in the audience that night and sold only one record, which I got to sign. The good part is that we needed that, needed to have a night were we could goof around musically. It was such a good night, no stress and nice food.

After the gig we went straight to Hamamatsu, one and a half hour away. Mori-sans friend Hirano-san had fixed us a spectacular apartement on the 14th floor (the top) of his building. We came there late and his secretary opened the doors for us and informed us about everything, including that we could eat and drink whatever we wanted in the fridge. The flat was…I have no words…it was topclass apartment. Let me just say there was a toilet that had a warm seating and accually lifted the lit up by itself! And flushes when your done! That´s how top class it was! And the view, oh my god…

I got my own room and so did Mori-san…Sebastiaan and Simon shared a doublebed. That was funny…

8th April
Since we didn’t go to bed until 4 last night, we slept until 12 or something. At one o´clock we went to Hirano-sans house to pick up the drumset. It was a beautiful home with cherryblossom in the garden. We met Hirano-san and his lovely wife and we were envited for tea. When we started talking about food his wife and secretary started to give us different samples of traditional japanese delicacies. Really tasty food, specially the pickled onions made by Hirano-san himself.

We went back to the apartement because the studio where we were supposed to play in was on the bottom floor of our building. It was sort of an art gallery with very nice acoustics. So we did the soundcheck and then headed for a late lunch. The secretary told me earlier that there were 80 people invited for this event. That got me really nervous so I had a hard time eating my food. My heart was beating really fast and it was awful, Im usually not like that at all so I was a bit surprised how I reacted. Well, later I put on my nicest dress and took a deep breath, focused and went down stairs. And crowded it was, literally! Hirano-san did the introduction and then called us up one by one, like boxers heading for the ring. This was also one of my favourite gigs during this tour. Everything went so good and the crowd was awsum. During “Ventilation”, a duo song, they even started to clap their hands in tempo. Lovely people, what a feeling. We sold 23 records, same amount as in Niigata.

Hirano-san wanted to take us out for dinner so he took us to a very fancy restaurant together with his wife and secretary and some of his employees. And again, the food was great. When it comes to the food, Im so surprised that I like it so much, since I didnt even eat sushi in Sweden very often and wasn’t a big fan either. Well, that was before. Now Im crazy about it! We had a lovely time and I tried to keep my grace although I drank a lot of sake. Hirano-san were very happy for the gifts me and Simon bought him, one pin with Göteborg colors and a bottle of Reimersholms brännvin, very strong shit… =)

The party continued at our apartement after we had said goodbye to Hirano-san and his family and friends. We drank some Asahi, the very tasty japanese beer, and also some Santory whiskey, for relaxing times. I shouldn’t have, but I also smoked some Pianissimo cigarettes.

9th April
The door rang sometime around lunch, when we just got up. It was Hirano-sans secretary saying that he wanted us to join him for a special treat. Hamamatsu is known for its delicacy eel and it comes in all different dishes. As a starter we got eel-liver and as main course we got eel and rice. The liver had a very special taste, spongy and very fat. But the main course was very nice and it came in a trippel-layered, wodden box. Beautiful!

We said goodbye to Hirano-san and got in our minivan, heading for Tokyo again. We were a bit behind schedule, we had to check in at the hotel and then travel to Koga, one and a half hour drive from Tokyo. Well we got to Café up´s in time for our concert and also had time for a short soundcheck. Café up´s is a very nice place, small but very cool. In the roof and on the walls you can see signatures and messages written everywhere. The owner Yasuko-san is a very cool lady and I really liked that place, it had a very special feeling about it. Maybe this is why the gig went so good. It wasn’t many people there but again, those who were there, were great audience. The piano tuner was there listening to us and he even tuned the grand piano during our break. Simon was very happy about that, never experienced such service before.

After the concert we stayed for a while, had some drinks and got to write our signatures. Unfortunately, I spelled Yasuko with a W instead of a Y. So, I was a bit ashamed for that but I got back up there and did my best to correct it. Next time I come there, Im gonna bring Tip-ex. Cross my heart!

10th April
We had some time off Saturday before our last gig at Body and soul. So me, Simon and Sebastiaan decided to go sightseeing in Tokyo. We started by going to Tokyo Tower, it’s a tower that looks exactly like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Only, this is much higher and also in red and white. Because Simon and Sebastiaan wanted to go up, I didn’t have a good reason to refuse. Im acctually afraid of heights and I was terrified of the elevator with windows. But we got to the first stop and it was fine, I enjoyed it. The view was magnificent, Tokyo is a very big city, grand in every way. Then the guys wanted to continue to the topfloors and again, I thought that I could handle it. But when we got up there I paniced because you could feel it swing a bit, back and forth. So I was pressing myself to the walls in the center and just wished that it would be over quickely. I had such sweaty hands and was shaking. I will never go up there again, ever! But Im proud of myself, I did it.

We got home and Simon went to find a memory card while me and Sebastiaan went to a Ramen restaurant. It was so good but very big portions, I was ashamed because you couldn’t tell that I had eaten anything from my plate. But we had a lovely dinner and then we got back to the hotel, just in time to change clothes and pack our stuff for the gig.

The jazzclub Body and soul, our last concert. We had some very special guests coming, the swedish ambassador in Tokyo and his wife. Acctually it was tables booked ever since Sebastiaan was there in february so when we got there, you could see reservation notes everywhere. It was a good feeling. And it was really crowded and it was a very nice audience. I didn’t feel that my voice was in top condition this night, I don’t know if it was mentally or maybe I was tired. We had a guest musician, Yasuko-san on harmonica. She played one of her own tunes and a standard. She was really good, I wish I get the opportunity to play with her again sometime. Over all it was a great night but after the concert I felt really empty. It was over, done, completed. Everything that I longed for was in the past. I got a bit sad and it was hard to say goodbye to everyone. Of course we had a dinner together and some drinks afterwards, we went to Momo-sans restaurant. She was very cute and friendly. When we were going, everyone got out of the restaurant, waving goodbye. It was heartbreaking.

Me, Seb-san and Simon-san said goodbye at the hotel. It was sad but Im possitive that we will play again sometime.

11th April
Me and Simon had sightseeing in Tokyo. We did shoping in Shibuya and bought a lot of junk. My god, it was so many people. I´ve never in my life seen so crowded streets! Amazing! Harajuku was our last stop that day so we ate dinner at a pasta restaurant and then did the last shoping. Afterward we went to the hotel and drank some Asahi, while eating the doughnuts we got from a nice lady at Café Up´s (she was also at Pit inn and Body and soul plus that she made us CDs from a recording she did at Pit inn).

12th April
Departure 07.00 from the hotel and then it took us almost 24 hours to get home to Sweden. We were drained, really tired and it was hard to talk. But we both agreed that this trip has been the most amazing trip ever. The biggest event in our music careers. I wish it never ended but everything has to at some point. Its just hard when everything is “the last time”. The last time we ate dinner in Tokyo, the last time I sang Facing south at Body and soul, the last time…the last time…its much more fun with “the first time”.

Anyway, I want to thank everyone who came to our concerts and made this tour extraordinary! Thanks to everyone who bought our CD! Thanks to every club owner who let us play at their places! Thanks to all the wonderful people we´ve met and dined with! Thanks to Hirano-san and his wife who opened up their home for us and also taught us how to use chopsticks in a correct way. Thanks to Sebastiaan who is an amazing drummer and just made my songs rock! Thanks to Simon who is the most melodic pianoplayer I´ve ever heard, fantastic! Specially and particularly, thanks to Mori-san who made this tour happen! Im forever grateful for that, that was asume!

When I got home, I got roses from my boyfriend. Its not that bad to be home...

And so I left Sweden...

It´s thursday and easter has arrived to Sweden. But me, Simon and Mori aren´t going to enjoy any easterdinner or påskmust. No no, instead we´re traveling to Frankfurt and then we hop on a flight to Tokyo!

I packed everything yesterday but Im worried about the 20 kilo limit since I have about 60 records in my suitcase. We´ll see what happens, maybe I get stuck in Frankfurt. I guess they have tasty beer so...

So, I will try to update this blog with photos and stuff. Depends on if I find a computer with a keyboard that is understandable. Feels good to have Mori-san with us so that he can translate and explain everything. Starting to get really excited here!

Keep your fingers crossed and keep reading my blog. I have a feeling that this tour is going to be hysterical!

Read more

If you want to know more about Yasuhito Mori and Scandinavian Connection, you can go to his websites. One of them is in Japanese:

http://www.morimusic.jp/
http://www.myspace.com/yasuhitomori

Or if you want to know more about Simon Westman and Sebastiaan Kaptein, please enter their myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/simonwestman
http://www.myspace.com/sebastiaankaptein

The Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo have posted our tour on their website. Thank you very much for that:

http://www.swedenabroad.com/CalendarView____8584.aspx?slaveid=103900&showperiod=2010-04-03

The tour

3 april - Sweden Hills Golfclub restaurang "Leksand", Hokkaido
3 april - "Coo", Sapporo
4 april - "Amida-sama", Tomakomai
5 april - "Pit Inn", Tokyo
6 april - "Jazz Flash", Niigata
7 april - "Star Eyes", Nagoya
8 april - "Artform Salon", Hamamatsu
9 april - "Cafe Up´s", Koga
10 april - "Body and Soul", Tokyo

Japan

So I have finally reached one of my maingoals in my career as a singer. The 1st of April I will travel to Japan to do a 12 days tour. It´s a part of an organization called Scandinavian Connection, created by Yasuhito Mori. This organization gives the opportunity for swedish musicians to do concerts in Japan and the other way around. This tour will be the 38th exchange made since 1992!

On this tour I have Yasuhito Mori on bass and Simon Westman on piano, both living in Sweden. We´ve been playing together for two years now and during this time we´ve focused on playing my composition; music with jazz- and popinfluences. This is also the repertoar we´ll be playing in Japan added with some traditional jazzstandards and swedish folksongs. We will also have Sebastiaan Kaptein on drums who we´ll be meeting up in Sapporo. He´s actually from Holland but lives in Japan.

Enough with the facts!

We´ve been rehearsing a couple of times since I came back from Paris in March. It feels really good to play with Mori and Simon again. I´ve missed it alot.
I´m excited to meet Sebastiaan and play my songs, it´s gonna be a major difference with drums. I´ve tried it before so I know it´s gonna be great! Like last spring on my concert at "Mitt andra hem" together with Chris Montgomery and also my "Bye-bye concert" in Paris only one month ago. (I´ll tell you more about that another time) So exciting!

I´m making 200 demos to bring to Japan as promotion. I´ve been using an internetcompany and it couldn´t get any worse. When I got them last week, the booklets were broken and the colours were...let´s just say wrong to avoid the use of really bad words. Paniced for three hours, got my money back and now I´m using a local company. A real person with a real store who I can talk to "live". Feeling really optimistic and I´ve learned a lesson. =)

If you want, you can listen to my intervju on radio Kalmar (at 08.20 min) when I talk about my tour:
http://www.sr.se/webbradio/webbradio.asp?type=broadcast&Id=2253169&BroadcastDate=&IsBlock=

Introduction...

So, it´s getting closer...my tour in Japan. But maybe I should start by introducing myself.
I´m Maria, 27, singer and composer, born and raised on Öland; a small island in the Baltic sea, now living in Gothenburg. Singing is my great passion in life, or more truthful, it´s the only thing I really want to do.

I´ve been singing all my life since my parents are musicteachers and musicans, as well. So it was an easy choice for me but I really need to stress that it was my choice. I moved to Oskarshamn when I was 16 to study music and I just fell in love with music and playing and that is when I realized that this is it. This is what I want to do.

In every path a chose I ended up singing, in Malmö where I worked at a jazzclub, in Östersund where I studied jazz, in Kalmar where I sang in a musical etc. So finally I moved to Gothenburg to study music at the university. And here I am, going on my last 6 month in august and I just came home from exchange studies in Paris at the Conservatoire National Superiour. All these great things has happened to me and Im so greatful for the experiences.

Anyway, I would like to stop here before you all get tired of me. This is a blog about my process, about my adventures. You know, that´s one thing I´ve learned during my years; that music really takes you to these strange and exciting places you thought you would never see.

So welcome and hope you enjoy the reading.