From Maricha with love!

Foto: Lorenzo Melissari

(Here the Original Version in English, more photos and music. Hier die Original-Version des Interviews, mehr Fotos als auch Musik.)

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Maricha is a DJ, producer and performer who hails from Siberia and currently resides in Ibiza. She is combining her Organic & Deep House sets with her voice, improvising live.Her own productions are signed by labels WAYU Records, Dialtone Records and Lump.

Rarely have I seen someone who is so full of devotion, energy and joy when performing like Maricha.

I talked to her at the beach of Talamanca in the restaurant SHU: We first met at Sunset Ashram in Cala Conta when you were dropping the new single “Sands” from Bahramj and myself. It was a fun evening and I felt instantly that your are very enthusiastic about what you do. You even perform your sets old school without any beatmatching software, I was impressed!

Thank you. It was an amazing event and I played there a lot last season. And yes, I really love what I do, I’m a happy person and I love to share my happiness and inspiration with other people.

Maricha Lorenzo Melissari Maricha C1785689

Foto: Lorenzo Melissari

How did you come to Ibiza in the first place, what is your story?

Since my childhood, I have been a creative person. I graduated from a music school in my hometown Novosibirsk with focusing on piano, vocal and dance, and worked in television and radio, too. After recording my first pop vocal album, I moved from Siberia to Moscow.
But my creative search continued, and when I first came to Ibiza in 2014 as a tourist I felt completely in love with the new Deep House sound and The White Island anyway 🙂

What is your musical background, when and where did you start to play DJ gigs?

The next significant evolution of my career was happening on another island – Bali, where I was in 2016 for a short vacation. Fascinated by the island’s strong energy and personal insights, I stayed half a year in Asia, searching for myself and found a new way of art & life for me as an artist: Performing electronic music. My first DJ gigs then were in beach clubs at Koh Phangan, Thailand.

Before my Asia trip I began studying at the DJ school “Umaker” in Moscow performing as a DJ and production technician. I am producing in Ableton´s audio workstation “Live” my own tracks, acquire then remixes and mixdowns for finalising.

Returning to Russia inspired and motivated I got behind the wheel of my car and drove to Ibiza directly from Moscow… Yes, I like adventures!
In Ibiza, my first residence was at the legendary beach club Sunset Ashram, where I still play every Friday. My next big weekly show became the Ethereal party in Las Dalias… It is still one of my favourite events in Ibiza.

Foto: Lorenzo Melissari

How do you stay up to date with the latest music trends?

I follow how electronic music develops and changes, communicate with colleagues, listen to their new work and analyze. Also, I have two weekly shows on Ibiza Global Radio. Every Tuesday from 9 pm I play dance house music on my radio show FLUID, and every Friday from 2 pm I share soft and organic sound on my daytime show Inner Garden… So I create new sets all the time and listening to up to 1000 new tracks every week
You have a very professional online presence, great photos and stories, Do you have a team to do this and how important is this for your career?

Thank you for the compliment, I am very pleased, because at the moment I manage my own social networks and even my bookings.

When I first started my DJ journey, I had neither an agency nor a manager, I just wanted to play, so I learned to promote myself as an artist. And I still do most of this work myself.

Social Media is an important part if you want to be successful. Fortunately, I really like contact with people, and I like to communicate with my followers, share stories, answer questions. I always keep in touch in my instagram.com/marichamusic… I create my images and pictures by myself, but I have people I love working with, my favourite photographer Lorenzo in Ibiza and webdesigner Pavel in Bali. Being public is very important for artist, I accept it and do it with love.
But for example, as for any creative person, the business component of my work can be a little burden sometimes, that is why I have recently started to think about working with a manager.

Do you feel a lot of competition as a Dj in Ibiza?

Huge. We joke that there are more DJs here than tourists! Especially during the season, a lot of professional and non-professional DJs from all over the world come here, and everyone wants to play, for any fee or even without. Some agencies are even paying organisations if their Dj can play at a certain event. This is crazy and of course creates an unhealthy atmosphere for the industry.

You need to have a certain strength of character to survive in Ibiza and take your place here. Some people think that I have a harsh character. But my power is not strength, rather softness and flexibility. I’m like a river, going my own way, not demolishing everything in my path, but bypassing it, flowing around the pitfalls and continuing to move, continuing to do what I really love.

If you didn’t become a musician, what would you be doing right now?

I would be a cat… 🙂

Foto: Lorenzo Melissari

What places do you enjoy most in Ibiza, what are you doing in your free time, if is there any?

Ibiza is like a diamond for me with many sparkling facets. Here you can find everything you want. Wild beaches and fancy restaurants, spiritual retreats and crazy parties, luxury villas and hippies… Everything here is intricately intertwined and that’s why I love Ibiza.
Here, people from different spheres, countries and social levels intersect in a very own place, share their experiences and thoughts, which is impossible in other cities. Every day can become a unique experiment: leaving in the morning for yoga, you do not know where you will find yourself (dancing?) in the evening.

In the summer, I play almost every day at different places, beach clubs, restaurants, on boats or at a private party… If I have a free day, I spend it on the sea or I would go hiking, I prefer to explore wild places. Of course also like to listen to famous colleagues at interesting parties like in Cova Santa, Hi or Pacha, or the new and lovely Akasha club… But in general, I like more authentic places like Sunset Ashram, Casa Maca, Cala Gracioeta, Nagai or Element at Benirras.

I know as you were born in Russia you are deeply sad about the situation in Ukraine. Is there something you want to to share?

It is all a big pain for me. Most of my friends are from Ukraine, my mother, sister, nieces live in Russia. And I’m here. My heart is breaking apart. But this is my way, my life and my work. And I love it and I should continue here…
I condemn the war and the policy of the president of the country in which I was born, destroying the Ukraine and Russia.
Periodically we hold events here in support of peace. I pray that this war will end soon. And humanity will finally begin to choose love over war.