Maya

Maya won the Best New Artist award at the 2003 Asia Music Festival held in Beijing, 26 July, winning over representatives from 30 Asian countries such as Japan, China and Hong-kong, captivating the Chinese audience and opening the door for her debut in China..
A director of Seoul Production said, ¡°Maya captivated the Chinese continent with her powerful voice and superb performance. After the ceremony, a number of Chinese officials praised her musical talent and reportedly approached Maya with various offers.¡±
- [Sports Seoul] Hwang Yong Hee

¡¶It is very difficult to find among entertainers who made their debut this year, displaying such spectacular performances in different fields like Maya(24). She made her debut in March, with a song titled ¡°Azalea flower¡±, written by Kim, So-wol, selling 90,000 albums which is a tremendous success very unlikely for a female rocker to achieve in the K-POP scene. Maya also impressed everyone with her acting talent in a popular television drama, ¡°Body Guard,¡± which set top audience rating in the first week of August (19.8% audience rating according to Nilson Media Research), starring as a tomboyish younger sister(Kyung-mi) of Kyung-tak, played by Cha, Seung-won.
- [Dong-A Ilbo] Jo Kyung Bok

Maya made her debut in February last year with a nickname of ¡°little brat¡±, stirring up the whole country with a, so called, ¡°Azalea flower sensation¡±.
After only 8months since her debut, or 8months of the ¡®Maya wave¡¯, people seem difficult to realize that she is a brand newcomer in the house. That¡¯s how strong the Maya wave was.
Maya has achieved a notable success, in fact, a success even difficult for the top stars to achieve in a year.
Not being satisfied with the great success with her ¡°Azalea flower¡± and ¡®As cool as it gets¡¯, she made a strong impression as an actress in a popular television drama, ¡®Bodyguard¡¯.
Maya, a hidden valuable artist, majors in drama at Seoul Art University, continuously developing her acting and talents.
- [Good Day] Kang Soo Jin

The line-up of the first ever edition of “Live Upstairs at MIDEM,” a series of concerts sponsored by Sonicbids, is now ready. Groups performing will include hotly-tipped French rock group Playground, soulful Canada-based singer Bahia (photo), and Magnet Man, a self-produced dancehall star from Barbados…

“Sonicbids presents Live Upstairs at MIDEM” takes place in the Palais’ Méditeranée room, 20.00-00.00 on January 24 & 25: click on each act’s name to consult its Sonicbids profile… and listen to their songs!

Monday evening will present four world music performers, namely Bahia (PSD Inc.), a soulful jazz singer whose voice is more than somewhat reminiscent of Norah Jones; Lura (Lusafrica), who like Cesaria Evora comes from Cape Verde, but whose sound is far more rhythmic and Brazilian, based on “batuque,” a traditional type of African drumming; Italy’s Zone (Curve Music); and Magnet Man (Magnetic Image Records), a charismatic singer who covers soca, reggae and rap… but always in a dancehall stylee!

Tuesday will be Live Upstairs’ pop-rock night, with English-singing French rock band PLAYGROUND, who are signed to Catalogue, one of France’s most consistently brilliant indie labels; Korean female rockstar and K-Pop figurehead Maya (Seoul Entertainement); American siren Rachael Sage (Mpress Records); and The A.M. (Storm Music), a New York-based trio fronted by Jeff Buckley’s former guitarist and songwriting partner Michael Tighe, which plays lush Ziggy Stardust-style ballads and foot-stomping glam anthems.

These eight acts will get the opportunity to play in front of some of the most important people in the music business; MIDEM’s delegates! Furthermore, as their entrance to this event includes a year’s subscription to Sonicbids’ online electronic press kit (EPK) service, they will be ‘selectable’ by Sonicbids’ partners, who number over 2,000 and include some of the US’ biggest festivals.

How’s about that for a good deal? - REED MIDEM