Mapi Quintana

MAPI QUINTANA-BELLÓN (Asturies, 1976)

Music has been always in the picture of the family of this Asturian singer. Her grandmother, who liked singing more than anything else and could sing better than Mapi herself nowadays, inscribed the 6 year old Mapi in piano and solfege classes. Playing music was a lot of fun, so as time went by, she became more involved with music and she continued having classes first in the Conservatory of L.lena and then Conservatory of Xixón. She passed her final exam of the professional degree in piano (classic) in the Conservatorio del Nalón, in March 2000.

Singing was also a lot of fun and easier than having to study solfege and piano etudes. Her first performance as a singer was at high school (1991), where accompied by her teacher of Latin on guitar, jumped on stage at the school Christmas party and sang a couple of tunes from the Beatles. From then, she went on performing as a singer with two school mates, and later on she joined different bands of different styles.

Her first contact with jazz music was in the Big-Band of the Conservatory of Xixón, while being a student of this school. She became a member of this band in March 1996 as the soloist singer. From then she began to be more interested in this style and she started to work with different Asturian jazz formations, although she didn't leave other styles aside.

Between 1996 and 2000 she followed the jazz and improvisation workshops organized by the “Taller de Músicos” in Xixón where she received classes from Andreas Prittwitz, Javier López de Guereña, Joshua Edelman, Federico Lechner, Osvi Grecco, Marcelo Gueblón among others.

In September 2000 came to The Netherlands where she began a bachelor degree in the jazz department of the Amsterdam Conservatory. She graduates in May of 2004 and in September of the same year begins a Master degree in the same school, focusing in the composition and development of her own music based on the encounter of Asturian traditional music and jazz. These compositions are presented in “El Sonar de les Semeyes”, the first solo album of Mapi Quintana, which will be launched in this year 2008.

Besides her own project, she is the front singer of “Bernie’s Lounge” (afro/latin/funk) www.bernieslounge.com, and “Tierra” (south american folklore) www.tierra-music.com. She also works as a teacher in “Muziekschool Backstage” in Zeist since November 2006.

She is a fanatic basketball player.