Maarja Nuut

Maarja Nuut is a fiddler and singer from Estonia. Her music combines traditional dance tunes, songs, and stories with live electronics, creating a space where minimalism and experimental music meet the village musical traditions of pre-war Europe.

Maarja Nuut was born in 1986, and hails from Rakvere, a small town in Northern Estonia, near the Baltic coast. There she was raised by her mother, a choir conductor, and began her formal music education at a the age of seven, studying violin andattending classical, choral and other concerts in her hometown.

At the age of 12 Maarja left Rakvere to study at the Tallinn Music High School. She went on to study at The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, until she was 21. From there Maarja went to New Delhi, India to study northern Indian music for seven months. After this she returned home to concentrate on her love of traditional Estonian music at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy before going on to do a Masters degree in Stockholm.

Maarja in performance searches for a lively but relaxed state, like a cat poised to take off. 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, voice and modern electronics. She loops her voice and strings creating an intricate layered soundscape which is both meditative and engaging.

In the spring of 2013, Maarja released her debut album “Soolo” which 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. In recent months Maarja has toured the USA, Canada, UK and Europe, won the Artist Award at Tallinn Music Week, and made a very successful showcase at the WOMEX International Conference in Santiago Spain.

Her second album, ‘Une meeles’, was released in spring 2016.