MAIJA SOFIA
Working across music, text, sound and performance, Maija Sofia Makela is an artist and writer from rural Galway, Ireland. Weaving between forms, her practice is led by a devotion to experiment and curiousity and she is continually drawn towards exploring the unexplained, the shadowed, the mythological and the mystic.
A highly acclaimed songwriter, she has released two albums; Bath Time (Trapped Animal, 2019) which was nominated for the Choice Music Prize; and True Love (Tulle Collective, 2023) which was praised in The Quietus as “a knotty tangle of irresistable earworms... the work of someone with an enviable talent.” She has toured extensively as a musician, opening for the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Julian Baker and Mega Bog.
She is a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Award (2020) as well as music bursary awards from Dublin City arts office (2021) and the Arts Council (2022.) She has been commissioned to write new music by National Concert Hall, Sirius Arts Centre, Dublin Digital Radio, Solas Nua and Cork Midsummer Festival. Her work has been arranged and performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra and she has performed several times on national television and radio.
She has written various texts for performance and installation and her poetry has been published in The Stinging Fly, Banshee and elsewhere. She also regularly writes texts to accompany exhibitions by visual artists as well as text for musicians, filmmakers and festivals. She hosts a monthly experimental radio show called Invocations on Dublin Digital Radio.
You can find Maija on
Newsletter
Instagram
Bandcamp
Spotify
Dublin Digital Radio
Contact / Commissions / Collaborations
I am always interested in hearing about potential writing commissions, performance opportunities, collaborations and other projects. I also regularly write texts for artists of all disciplines, as well as writing copy for festivals and cultural institutions and I welcome new work of this kind. If you would like to get in touch for any reason, you can reach me at:
maijasofiamusic at gmail dot com
A highly acclaimed songwriter, she has released two albums; Bath Time (Trapped Animal, 2019) which was nominated for the Choice Music Prize; and True Love (Tulle Collective, 2023) which was praised in The Quietus as “a knotty tangle of irresistable earworms... the work of someone with an enviable talent.” She has toured extensively as a musician, opening for the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Julian Baker and Mega Bog.
She is a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Award (2020) as well as music bursary awards from Dublin City arts office (2021) and the Arts Council (2022.) She has been commissioned to write new music by National Concert Hall, Sirius Arts Centre, Dublin Digital Radio, Solas Nua and Cork Midsummer Festival. Her work has been arranged and performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra and she has performed several times on national television and radio.
She has written various texts for performance and installation and her poetry has been published in The Stinging Fly, Banshee and elsewhere. She also regularly writes texts to accompany exhibitions by visual artists as well as text for musicians, filmmakers and festivals. She hosts a monthly experimental radio show called Invocations on Dublin Digital Radio.
You can find Maija on
Newsletter
Bandcamp
Spotify
Dublin Digital Radio
Contact / Commissions / Collaborations
I am always interested in hearing about potential writing commissions, performance opportunities, collaborations and other projects. I also regularly write texts for artists of all disciplines, as well as writing copy for festivals and cultural institutions and I welcome new work of this kind. If you would like to get in touch for any reason, you can reach me at:
maijasofiamusic at gmail dot com
photography by Jilly McGrath