BIOGRAPHYDJAÏMA (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.
DISCOGRAPHYOFFICIAL LINKS
Official Web Site: www.djaima.com/index.html
Myspace: www.myspace.com/djaima