Biography
Malika Ayane was born in Milan in 1984, the daughter of a Moroccan father and an Italian mother. Her musical training began at the ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ Conservatory in Milan, where she studied cello from 1995 to 2001. In the same period she joined the Voci Bianche Chorus of La Scala, contributing not only as chorus member but frequently also as soloist.
In 2007 Malika met Caterina Caselli, who was immediately impressed by her fresh, original and “spicy” style. This was the expression used by Paolo Conte to describe Malika’s voice. "The colour of this voice is a deep orange with a bitter and rare spicy flavour", he said. Malika’s very first recording project, entitled ‘Malika Ayane’, was released in the autumn of 2008. The album, based on a project by Caterina Caselli Sugar, is a melting pot of talents: producer and arranger Ferdinando Arno (author and composer of all the music and all the lyrics except for ‘Fandango’), Pacifico (who wrote two of the songs – ‘Sospesa’ and ‘Contro vento’), Giuliano Sangiorgi (author of ‘Perfetta’) and ‘maestro’ Paolo Conte, who wrote for Maliki a previously unreleased track, ‘Fandango’. Malika is co-author of two tracks: ‘Briciole’ and ‘Il Giardino dei Salici’.The album features the artistic contributions of several important names from the international music scene: Tom Elmhirst (Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lily Allen, Moby, Maroon5, Mary J. Blige) who mixed most of the tracks, Tony Cousins (Massive Attack, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Williams), who mastered the album at the Metropolis Studios in London, and Vincent Mendoza (Björk, Joni Mitchell), who supervised the arrangement of the orchestra in the tracks ‘Il giardino dei salici’ and ‘Perfetta’.The release of the album followed the radio success of the single ‘Soulwaver’, and its even more popular Italian version ‘Sospesa’, featuring Pacifico.Malika Ayane’s popularity took firm root with the release of ‘Feeling Better’ (which remained one of the most frequently played songs on the radio for over 4 months: a true record for a new artist) and the enthusiastic reviews of the music critics. ‘Feeling Better’ became a smash hit, with its video clip widely circulated on all the major music networks. In March 2009 Malika Ayane took part in the Sanremo Festival with the song ‘Come foglie’ (music and lyrics by Giuliano Sangiorgi, produced and arranged by Ferdinando Arnò). This track, which is included in the re-edition of the album of the same name released on the Sugar label, remained at No. 1 of the Nielsen Music Control charts of the songs most frequently played on the radio.
A year after its first release, the album ‘Malika Ayane’ went platinum.Malika Ayane was also the musical protagonist of the soundtrack for the film ‘Generazione 1000 Euro’, contributing three tracks - ‘Feeling better’, ‘Moon "and ‘Soul Waver’ – from her self-titled debut album. The film, directed by Massimo Venier, produced by Andrea Leone Films and Rai Cinema and distributed by 01 Distribution, featured a cast of promising young artists of Italian cinema: Valentina Lodovini, Alessandro Tiberi, Francesco Mandelli and Carolina Crescentini, with special guest star Paolo Villaggio.
On June 21, 2009 Malika took part in ‘Amiche per l’Abruzzo’, a fund-raising concert at the San Siro Stadium in aid of the survivors of the Abruzzo earthquake.Malika Ayane’s first tour, made in 2009, was a great success. The show combined old-fashioned artistic elegance with sophisticated rock, effectively alternating unreleased songs by the artist and exquisite cover versions of songs by prominent international artists.After a summer tour consisting of more than thirty concerts held throughout Italy, in November 2009 Malika won over the audience of Blue Note, a famous jazz club in Milan, accompanied by the band that in recent months had achieved a perfect alchemy with her voice, thanks also to the talents of its members: Luca Colombo (guitars) Stefano Bradoni, Giulia Monti (cello), Carlo Gaudiello (keyboards), Marco Mariniello (bass) and Leif Searcy (drums).In January, Malika performed the cover version of the song ‘La prima cosa bella’ to accompany the closing credits of Paolo Virzi’s new film of the same title, starring Stefania Sandrelli, Valerio Mastandrea, Claudia Pandolfi and Micaela Ramazzotti.
On Friday February 19 2010 “Grovigli”, the long-awaited second album from Malika Ayane, was released on the Sugar label. Produced and arranged by Ferdinando Arnò, it also features artists such as Pacifico, Cesare Cremonini and Paolo Conte.
The sounds, themes and the creative process of “Grovigli” are in fact the result of meetings, experiments and new experiences that Malika Ayane has woven together in the extremely busy last twelve months. The long tour took her all round Italy, as well as part of the rest of Europe, with its stylish and sophisticated show was an influence on the album, as was the collaboration with Andrea Bocelli, with whom she recorded the melancholic ‘Blue Christmas’. On this new album she shows a new side to her character, by being more involved in the creation of the album as writer.
It is no coincidence that the album “Grovigli” opens with “Ricomincio da qui”, the track that Malika performed at the 60th Sanremo Festival winning the Critics Award “Mia Martini”. Malika, with the help of friend and colleague Pacifico, in fact wrote the lyrics for the song and Ferdinandò Arnò provided the music.
Next comes the amazing “Thoughts and clouds” with Sandy Chambers, a vocalist from the dance group Corona, singing the chorus and collaborating on the lyrics. Then Malika takes a step back in time to the ’70s with her version of “La prima cosa bella” by Nicola Di Bari, featured on the soundtrack of Paolo Virzì’s latest movie. After the powerful “Brighter than sunshine” comes “Little brown bear”, an exceptional duet with Paolo Conte, special guest star on the album “Grovigli”, and someone who has always appreciated Malika's voice, which he describes as being ‘deep orange in color with a taste of bitter, rare spice’. The music legend Paolo Conte decided to give this new track to Malika after being bowled over by her version of “Chiamami adesso”, with its wonderful string arrangement by Alexander Balanescu. A chorus of children accompany Malika on the ska-tinged “Mille”, written by Arnò and Luca Gemma, while the lyrics for “Sogna” and “Satisfy my soul” are entirely by Malika. Rounding off “Grovigli” is “Believe in love” by and with Cesare Cremonini.
In September 2010 the European launch of Malika was followed by Sugar Music and distributed by Universal Music, in Germany, France, Belgium and Holland. Together with the European launch, Malika Ayane toured in these countries with his ‘Grovigli European Tour’, gaining incredible critique feedback.
Malika is currently recording her third record.
