My music-related story in a nutshell…

Vocal artistry became the core of my being at a very early age.  My parents — who were not trained musicians but were very naturally musical— would harmonize with me when I’d sing little songs as a preschooler. When they saw me pick out melodies on the piano at age 5, they signed me up for piano lessons with the most accomplished teacher in town, a Polish concert pianist named Mr Ronald Kmiec. I studied classical piano throughout my childhood and was meanwhile greatly influenced at home by my dad’s love of classic jazz as well as the soulful music of Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, and Cape Verdian artist Cesaria Evora. While piano was my schooled instrument, my voice became my vessel of freeplay and joy.

Through luck, skill and circumstances, I began professional vocal recording in my teen years for commercial jingles as well as with various performing groups, mainly in Jazz and R&B styles. In college years I studied in Italy and India, and later during my graduate music degree, I spent time in West Africa and Brazil. Captivated by earthy international rhythm and dance forms, I became hooked into the World Music scene, and after singing for several years with a samba band led by David Rumpler in Boston, I joined up with Caribbean musician Diego Jameau, to whom I was married for nine years and performed extensively around the Napa Valley and San Francisco Bay Area, selling many thousands of cds under the duo name, Twin Souls. It felt like an honor to see one of my old albums on the shelf for sale at a thrift shop in the city, next to ones of Whitney Houston and Frank Sinatra. Haha.

During the Twin Souls era I was known as Maria Billings Jameau, became a mother to two wonderful daughters and with their participation, created a family music program in 2000 in Napa Valley that I affectionately called Musical Mothering.  As my daughters grew, I spun up a world folk choir in Sonoma County, and later several Brazilian music ensembles including "Blue Brazil” and “Abrazu.” The album “Maria Jameau & Blue Brazil: Gema”, attracted the attention of Challenge Records International of the Netherlands, for which I contracted for a couple of years. One tune reached the top of the radio charts over there, and that was it.

In 2011 I legally changed my last name to Bija, which is an abbreviation of my maiden and ex-married last names, holding the Sanskrit meaning: "seed of creation,"  where creating is essential to a thriving life. My name change came along with a new life chapter, both personally and professionally.

I now perform as a solo guitarist/vocalist in the greater Bay Area and teach a full schedule of music classes at Credo High School in Rohnert Park, CA. I earned my Masters of Music Degree in Dalcroze Eurhythmics (a mode of teaching musicality and music literacy through movement) and an undergrad degree in Philosophy, which brought me to study in Italy and India back in college days. I’ve played piano for over 45 years and have taught at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge.  In 2007 I created the Bija Children's Choir and later developed it into a nonprofit 501c3 organization, allowing expansion of the scope and vision to be supported by a wonderful board of directors for 16 years.  The program ended in 2023 when I took on my full time role at Credo High School.

On the performance side of things, my travels and love of world music & dance have inspired vocal performance projects ranging from Brazilian to French, R&B, Jazz and Indie along with world-class musicians in the Bay Area. Audiences listen to my performances through audio / video recordings, farmers markets, house concerts, and other intimate venues.  New recordings of my originals are always on the horizon, so please check back from time to time, or subscribe to my YouTube channel to receive notices when new songs come out. My goal in performing is to keep both listeners and myself feeling human and connected as this recording track called “Life” rolls forward.