Ana Carla Maza was born in Cuba to musician parents. The daughter of famed Chilean composer Carlos Maza, she grew up immersed in a time when the notes of the Buena Vista Social Club resonated through the streets of the Bahía district. Life in Havana was set to the pace of her parents’ tours, from which they would return with records by Herbie Hancock and other jazz artists. Added to this world filled with the different sounds of Latin American music was her classical training, which introduced her to the cello, an instrument she would never put down. She began to perform on stage from a very young age, sometimes with her parents, and her journey has close links with France. In 2020 she released her first album of original compositions, La Flor, which spoke of a mixed musical world in which classical techniques marry with the sounds of jazz, Cuban music and bossa nova. Her forthcoming album, Bahía, a tribute to the Havana neighbourhood where she grew up, will be released in February 2022.

Although she chose the cello, Maza does not use it in the traditional sense, instead opting for an approach “without barriers”. La habanera and bossa nova are two of her preferred musical spheres, but she also freely ventures into pop, with a host of different techniques and vocal registers. By playing with both a bow and her fingers, she approaches the cello as a classical instrument and as a bass to accompany her vocals. Maza also makes a point of taking an acoustic approach to music, without the use of electronic instruments or post-production. The aim is to create an intimate, organic experience that stays true to the vocals and the vibration of the cords.

Bahía, Maza's new album, will be released in February 2022. This new record, which explores several musical directions and cultivates a thoroughly blended approach, was intended as a tribute to all the women whose paths she has crossed and who have accompanied and supported her. Chief among these is Miria Valdés, the wife of the renowned composer and jazz pianist Chucho Valdés, who was her piano teacher. To promote this record, with its mix of influences and sounds, a major international tour of Europe and Latin America is planned – an opportunity to return to the origins of her inspiration and her Latin American roots.