 BIOGRAPHY DJAÏMA (meaning in Sanskrit « Victory to you, Mother ») has come to the world by the end of last century in Toutrakan, a small town by the Danube in Bulgaria. Child prodigy of her home town, she started playing the violin at the age of 5 and gave her first concert at the age of 7. When she’s 9 years old, she took part for the first time to an anonymous contest for young composers organised by a local radio station, and she unanimously won the prize from the jury. She then joined the National School of Music of the town of Russe where she carried on with her musical studies and successfully got her A’levels with speciality in violin. Next to her musical activities, DJAÏMA got an interest in and learned acting, singing and dancing. Feeling like mixing music and theatre led her to apply to the National Academy of Film and Theatre Art in Sofia. After a selection following the entrance examinations, she was admitted for a 5-year period in the puppeteer class of Dora Ruskova. During those years, she learned the art of puppetry, perfected the acting techniques according to the Stanislavski method, studied the voice and its singing and talking capacities, practised world and contemporary dance. She was engaged by Zdravko Mitkov, director and Academy teacher, to play in the show « Our City » by Hamchic as actress and violinist and with whom she completed her master’s degree in actress and puppetry. In 1993, DJAÏMA represented Bulgaria during the Festival of Avignon in an international show, created with the participation of students of Theatre Academies from around the world. The next year, still sent by the Academy, she took part to the Printemps de Bourges Festival. The many rich experiences and encounters she made made her feel like discovering new artistic horizons and the idea of specializing in musical theatre was coming closer to her heart. In 1995, she applied to the Studio des Variétés in Paris for a specialization in musical theatre, and she took tuitions with Julia Pelaye, lyric singer. Next to the school, she met Didier Lockwood thanks to whom she discovered jazz and a different way of practising violin. In 1997 DJAÏMA set up for good in France. She was engaged by the JMF for the show « Sali Yachar, the blacksmith » directed by Thierry Bongard. She went on a France Tour playing it for 3 years. ARBmusic label entrusted her with the creation of 3 CDs of Eastern European countries tales and music for their collection « Childhood Earth ». DJAÏMA set in music and rewrote stories taken from Russian, Bulgarian and Tzigane folklore. She recorded them among others with musicians like Marc de Louchek – balalaïka, guitar ; Yachko Ramic – accordion ; Krassen Luzkanov- kaval. « The caravan tales », « The Tales of Baba Yaga » as well as « Bulgaria - Rounds, nursery rythmes, lullabies » were very well welcomed by the public. DISCOGRAPHY   OFFICIAL LINKS Official Web Site: www.djaima.com/index.html Myspace: www.myspace.com/djaima |