With roots in Spain, England, Belgium, and the United States, singer-songwriter Sophie Maricq is a citizen of the world for whom music has been an indispensable part of her life. At Berklee, Maricq surrounded herself with incredible people and learned more than she had ever imagined. She also met her beloved mentors: genius educator, artist, composer, and humanitarian Danilo Pérez, and his wife, Patricia Zárate, a musician, music therapist, and prominent businesswoman.
“With them, my relationship with music changed completely,” Maricq says.
On a cultural exchange trip with her mentors in Africa, Maricq found her passion for music therapy and uncovered the power of music as a tool for social change and healing. Since that time, she has worked in Boston and in Panama with children with special needs through the Danilo Pérez Foundation, as well as in Boston Children's Hospital, various homes for the elderly, and the Fundación Amigos del Niño con Leucemia y Cáncer (FANLYC). Maricq currently works at Berklee and her dream is to help build global music therapy programs that empower local communities around the world.
Meanwhile, the music never stops. Maricq returns in 2017 with a new EP, Moksha, recorded in both London (at Yak Bondy’s studio) and in Boston (at both the Record Company and Joey Blake’s studio). Produced by Bondy, Blake, and Javier García Escudero, the release contains six songs that offer an open and exciting panorama of Maricq’s talent, including her ability to embrace so many genres and influences with a warm and charming blend of sincerity and playfulness that will surely delight most music lovers.
Accompanied by Jussi Reijonen - Although born in Rovaniemi, a picturesque small town on the Arctic Circle in northern Finland, Reijonen did not grow up an ordinary Nordic childhood; the decade between age 6 and 16 was spent moving between Finnish Lapland, Jordan, Tanzania, Oman and Lebanon as his family followed his father’s work around the world. Since relocating to the US in 2008, he has had the honor of performing with the likes of renowned jazz drummer Jack deJohnette, flamenco cantaor legend Pepe de Lucia, Spanish multi-Grammy-award-winning producer and flamenco guitarist Javier Limón, Palestinian oud/violin master Simon Shaheen, fretless guitar pioneer David Fiuczynski, Turkey’s gypsy clarinet legend Hüsnü Senlendirici, and Lebanese nay virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist Bassam Saba, to name a few.
