"Mariana Daris"
Mariana Daris
Mariana Daris is an Italian singer-songwriter with diverse artistic talents.
The youngest of five, she showed an aptitude for aesthetics, in all its forms, from an early age. She was very good at drawing and would refuse to go to kindergarten without an outfit that looked just right. Her father’s purchase of a baby grand piano when she was four years old sparked in Mariana a love of music. She spent a lot of time at the piano, and her parents nurtured her interest by enrolling her in a music school.
By the time she was seven, Mariana was beginning to develop her own musical style, and wrote her first songs. In the following years she began looking for inspiration in other genres to complement her classical training.
Before the age of 19 the only two songs that Mariana had sung were written by her father, who recorded her performances. Hearing the recordings being played back made her aware of her significant talent as a singer/songwriter, and the same recordings were sent by her mother (Emanuela Daris) in to an important national singing competition two years later. This resulted in Mariana being invited to attend the auditions, in which, of course, she wore an outfit that she had designed and made herself. At this stage Mariana thought that she was destined to become a fashion designer, and had registered for a training course to do just that. This was not to be because she caught the eye of the organisers of the very first Italian X Factor competition, who were in the audience during her performance, and who then invited Mariana for an audition in the fall of 2007. She placed in the final fourteen and won great praise and encouragement from the judges, which further boosted her self-confidence.
The positive feedback inspired Mariana to enrol in a singing academy. These were two tough years; each one-hour lesson required a full day of travel, with five transit changes. When not in lessons, Mariana practiced solidly at home, comparing her singing to that of the greatest female vocalists.
In that period Mariana decided that she was next going to enrol in the Italian Academy of Art, Fashion, and Design in Florence, and started working on a repertoire which she would perform in piano bars to fund her studies. She began performing in Italy and Switzerland. This was an important phase in Mariana’s career as she fine-tuned her stage presence, but at the same time it left her feeling unfulfilled at singing only other people’s songs. As a result she decided to return to her composing roots, as well as singing.
In the winter of 2011, spurred on by a positive review of a music critic, Mariana participated in the prestigious “Sergio Endrigo” national singing competition in Milan, where she performed with a full backing orchestra. Mariana came second, singing a song written by her father.
In her spare time Mariana likes to indulge her artistic passions, such as painting.
Mariana is one of few artists with the facilities to record a demo in their own little recording studio, which led to her collaboration with the producer Drooid on the single Angels/Angeles, which she wrote with him. Their differing backgrounds and musical roots gave birth to Mariana's distinctive sound: a search for new sounds that blends classical, electronic, and pop music with a soulful voice.
"Angels" is an emotional song that deals with the subject of violence against women and the vulnerable. Mariana wanted to show her support by describing the experience from the perspective of the suffering victim.
