Bossajazz Festival

Balo Variations by Maarika
A rare phenomenon in the Finnish music scene, Maarika Autio’s main instrument is the diatonic West African balafon, which she learned as a traditional apprentice in Senegal. She later graduated as a Nordic Master of Global Music from the Sibelius Academy in Finland and the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark. As a musician and a soloist in various formations, Maarika has toured the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Today, in this experimental solo project “Balo Variations”, Maarika explores the creative leeway of a non-native playing traditional instruments. With the balafon and her second instrument, the kora harp, she takes us on a musical leap in time, from a style hundreds of years old to unexplored creative dimensions with the help of modern technology.