Maria Ivanova is a self-taught singer/songwriter. Her style of singing is pure and simplified - a burden light to carry. Lyrically she draws pictures with large and bold strokes. So far she has written songs in English, German, Russian and Bulgarian, and loves to sing in Spanish.Classical piano lessons as a child are followed by a flirtation with musical theatre courses and dance workshops, leading to a project with songwriter Paul McNab, based in Silicon Valley, California. Seeing a composer and poet at work, reading biographies and attending concerts as well as film sets, Maria decides to go a different path and writes her first songs.Inspite of her lack of "official" musical education, Maria Ivanova has experienced the joy of being involved in jazz, pop and soul projects, and released a single record with EMI Austria/Capitol Rec. in 2004. Artists such as Hubert Tubbs, Aladin Sani, Ivan Ruiz, Shayan Fathi made this recording special, while Thomas Kohlwein and Verena Bruckner led the production.Her passion for studio recordings was fuelled by a unique Bulgarian experience with SoundDesign studios, where she was introduced to jazzy arrangements and chords. This collaboration and friendship has been the source of much inspiration and lessons learned (www.sounddesign-bg.com).In Austria Maria Ivanova had the opportunity of spending an exciting and fruitful time in More Music Studios, where she had the chance to record not only Soulfishing but also backing vocals for interesting projects (e.g. Trotando: Eldis La Rosa Group www.myspace.com/eldislarosamonier). Maria caught the groove of world music.In the meantime she completed a graduate degree in international business administration.Currently, she is writing a new album called "Scrapbook", attends as many jam sessions and jazz concerts as possible, performs live in Vienna and writes lyrics on bus stations.