Maïa Barouh

Franco-Japanese and based between Paris and Tokyo, Maïa Barouh develops a vocal and musical practice that spans chanson, Japanese traditional music, rap, and electronic textures. A singer, flutist, and composer, she draws on a family legacy shaped by the French independent scene and on a long immersion in Japanese culture, which she reimagines by blending vocals inspired by popular song traditions with spoken word and hip-hop-leaning rhythms. Her writing moves between French, Japanese, and at times English, with a focus on questions of identity, cultural hybridity, and relationships to place. After early work alongside her father, author and producer Pierre Barouh, she has gradually built a solo career of stage projects and recordings in which the voice plays a central role, at times treated like a percussion instrument. She performs regularly in France, Japan, and across various European countries, in popular and contemporary music venues as well as spaces dedicated to world music and transdisciplinary projects, and collaborates widely with musicians from experimental, jazz, and traditional scenes.