Media

Some recent press reviews.

Clicking on the titles will take you to the relevant websites.

Tanja Maritsa - Fragile - Blues and Soul Magazine

Tanja Maritsa is just an old fashioned girl trying to be heard above this cruel vicious world but her soft charms and genteel persuasion might just get to you in the end.

Stylistically the girl's all at sea jazzy folk and beyond with shades of Joni Mitchell, Dory Previn and Madeleine Peyroux fans will really love her! This doesn't take anything away from the girl whose unique voice will tug at the heart strings ....I'm already feeling very protective of her and i'm only two songs in!

'Fading Grace' with it's poignant melancholic beauty will stop any hard nosed critic in his tracks, she draws you into her ethereal world and it's hard to escape, believe me. If this was the swinging 60's Tanja would be singing at the Troubadour just before Paul Simon and may be a Dylan set. Wonderfully anachronistic but she could easily become a big star her songs are crying out to be used in film.

There's some exceptional playing on this album (produced by Richard Niles) with it's sweet rythmic acoustic guitar, it's no wonder as she is backed by some truly wondetful musicians (Richard Cottle, Sam Burgess, Gary O'toole) and again she has teamed up with wunderkind pianist Gwilym Simcock, and the highly esteemed Oud player Naseer Shaama, who features on 'In Love again' with It's "little sparrow" evocations. Bewitching beguiling if this girl doesn't leave you smiling there's a hole in your soul! She will touch you.

Tanja Maritsa – Fragile (Freedom) - Girl SIngers

Doug Boynton

The title fits Tanja Maritsa’s style – very intimate. When listening through headphones – or the iPod buds, it’s like she’s only inches from my ear. Ms. Maritsa floats through a dozen tracks of mostly original material, produced by Richard Niles and backed by pianist and arranger Gwilym Simcock; Richard Cottle on keyboards, Sam Burgess on bass, and Gary O’Toole on percussion. The group is joined on Oud (oh, go look it up) by Nasser Shamma for “In Love Again,” one of my favorite tracks – which moves along with a nice Middle East beat.

Other favorites include the chanson-esque “Live for Today,” which I already raved about, another track released as a single – “Fading Grace,” which sounds very much like a lullaby, and “Libertango,” which mixes that same Middle East sound with lyrics in French, which I’m sorry to say, I failed in school.

Ms. Maritsa, born in England to British and Croatian parents, spent a lot of time growing up in Paris.

It’ll be interesting to see where she finds the market for this music. I find it very listenable; I’ve been spending a lot of time with this disc this week. But it’s likely that the casual listener will have to take a few turns off the beaten path to find it.

I hope they do. There’s craftsman kind of work in putting something like this together. And then there’s master craftsman quality, painstakingly assembled by hand, and that’s where this one resides.

Very highly recommended.

Tanja Maritsa - Fragile - Rhythm-and-booze.co.uk

Tanja Marista's love for music began in its earnest in her teens when she started classical singing lessons, catching the ear of Rick Wakeman in a regional competition, but it wasn't until after a stint at university that she decided to take her obvious talent seriously. A chance meeting with Collete Meury (teacher to the likes of Beth Gibbons and Liz Frazer among others) helped Tanja recognise her talent and by 2005 she formed her own jazz folk group, Bluebird, releasing an album's worth of jazz and folk covers, prior to her aforementioned solo debut album.

Fragile should see Tanja's stock rise further, the delightful twelve track affair offers up a wonderful combination of uplifting jazzy affairs, folk numbers and on occasion, a brief diversion into a more worldly sound featuring exotic Oud courtesy of the esteemed Naseer Shaama.

The album opens with a lovely slow jazzy chanson number in the shape of Live For Today, a gorgeous statement of intent complete with delicate piano and wonderfully seductive vocals that instantly plays with the heart strings of the listener weaving an intoxicating spell that continues throughout the album's duration.

Live For Today is followed by the acoustic folk stylings of La Catrina a song that again captures the imagination of the listener from the opening few bars, Tanja's delivery is instantly infectious, whilst the band back her ably with subtle yet effective musicianship. Elsewhere we're treated to addictive jazz odes such as No More The Blues, the infectious folk of The Other Side Of The World and the stunning duo of In Love Again and Libertango, both of which blend world music into an already potent mix, the former showcases the aforementioned Oud to dazzling effect, whilst the latter is a sublime combination of flamenco guitar and latin tinged rhythms evoking the sun kissed shores of Spain.

If all that wasn't enough, the album is completed with the gloriously emotive Fading Grace, a truly beautiful melancholic piece that's simply soaked in passion with Tanja's fragile and haunting vocals oozes with class and emotion.

Fragile is a delightful album from start to finish, Tanja's warm heartfelt vocals never fail to impress, whilst the blend of influences and genres leaves the listener with a sweet taste and insatiable thirst to hear more.

Review of Fading Grace (Single) - The Jazzmann

A lovely duet with acclaimed pianist Gwilym Simcock

It’s not often I get to review a single on the Jazzmann. Clearly those handling the career British based singer/songwriter Tanja Maritsa harbour hopes of her achieving considerable crossover success.

“Fading Grace” is taken from Maritsa’s impending second album “Fragile”, due for release in February 2010. A Maritsa original the song appears in two forms on the album, a full band version and in a pared down duet with acclaimed pianist Gwilym Simcock.

It is the duo version that is due to be released as a single and therefore concerns us here. Simcock’s typically sensitive arrangement and accompaniment helps to bring out the beauty of Maritsa’s melody, the fragility of her voice (the album title, taken from Sting’s song of the same name is suitably apposite) and the poetic delicacy of her words.

It’s very laid back and lovely and the song has already generated considerable airplay on various BBC local radio stations as well as being picked up on in Europe, Australia and Canada. I certainly prefer the duet to the album version but suspect it may be a little too tasteful and subtle for the Great British Public to turn it into a hit. It’s a good calling card though and stranger things have happened.

For myself it’s a little too smooth and I prefer to hear Simcock in a more obviously jazz context.

I’ll be taking a look at the album itself nearer to release date. In the meantime more information can be found at http://www.tanjamaritsa.co.uk and http://www.myspace.com/tanjamaritsa

Blues and Soul Magazine - Elegantly Yours

"For me, elegance is not to pass unnoticed but to get to the very soul of what one is" - Christian Lacroix. For ME elegance in this instance is a tad different, one would listen to the delicately intrinsic tones of Tanja Maritsa while contemplating (taking a leaf from Lacroix's sketch book) one's soul. But not only Soul - how about Jazz, Folk and a touch of World Music?

And mon amis, having had the chance to ponder all the above before catching up with the lady herself - I found this, one time Jazz, now jack (or should that be Jacqui) of a lot more trades, in slightly jovial mood to talk about her two singles in - now impending album. An album so full of style, panache and je ne sa qua that even Mr Lacroix would whole heartedly approve - and for want of better terminology in this instant, an absolutely beautifully delivered piece of genre crossing quality.

So, I suppose you want a quick run-down on Ms Maritsa before I go any further... Well, she was born to an English Mother and Croatian Father, subsequently spent her early years in France (Ahh, now you know why I used all those French-isms, - it's all planned don't you know!?) before settling here at the tender age of five. Fast-forwarding to 2005 she would form a Jazz group called 'Bluebird', before branching out on her own. Now, about to release her second album 'Fragile', she stands on the precipice of (some may say) a GREAT musical future. Why greatness you ask? Well, when you're mentioned in the same breath as Madeleine Peyroux, Eva Cassidy, Jon Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald AND Nina Simone you can kinda make that assumption. On a personal note, when listening to her, then all I can do is rubber stamp that statement. So, Madames et Messieurs, may I start the interview now? .... Merci...