Mikah Maquá
Quirky Alt-Pop Rock | NL
AVAILABILITY FOR EUROPE
2026-2027 | July 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2027
Line-up
Mikah Maquá | Voice
Fay Arapatsani | Drums
Federica Fornaro | Guitar
SiYu Liu | Keys
Shortly about Mikah
Mikah Maquá stands out for her sharp songwriting, turning vulnerability, irony and neurodivergent self-awareness into catchy, emotionally direct indie-pop. A two-time finalist of the European Music Contest in the singer-songwriter category (2018 and 2021), she was also selected for the Hedon Beurs 2025 development trajectory. In 2026 she released her debut EP people pleaser with support from Music Support Overijssel, confirming her as a rising voice with both personality and momentum.
Style
Confessional indie-pop with the nerve of alt-rock and the bounce of spring-loaded guitars. Retro-leaning keys and sharp backbeats keep the songs moving between irony, tension, and release. The band DNA is intimate but not soft: melodic, emotionally direct, and built for dynamic live lift.
Profile
Mikah Maquá sits where diaristic indie-pop meets wiry alternative rock. The center of gravity is a voice-first songwriting identity shaped by confession, irony, and emotional overshare, then pushed outward by a rhythm section that favors momentum over polish and by guitar work with a rougher art-rock edge. Fay Arapatsani brings physicality and dark-toned dynamic contrast from an art-pop and heavy-alt background; Federica Fornaro widens the harmonic field with psych, prog, and jazz-adjacent color, adding grain, tension, and movement rather than decorative texture. With keys functioning as both glue and counterpoint, the project lands in a sweet spot between catchy hooks and nervous energy: retro synth flashes, springy riffs, abrupt emotional pivots, and a live interplay that turns vulnerability into impact.
Details
Mikah Maquá
Dutch-Canadian singer-songwriter Maaike Girardin fronts the project with a writing voice built on self-exposure, humor, and emotional contradiction. Public profiles consistently frame the material around neurodivergence, people-pleasing, awkward love stories, and revenge-fantasy wit, but the songs stay hook-led rather than purely confessional. Production and release history point to a collaborative studio axis with Lennert Klaui, giving the project a polished but still elastic alt-pop frame. Live, the material is built to scale from intimate confession to sharp collective lift.
“Her relatable yet catchy pop songs let vulnerability collide with brutality.” (Hedon Zwolle event text, 2026-01-22)
Fay Arapatsani
Athens-born and based in Utrecht, Fay Arapatsani brings a drummer-songwriter sensibility that favors weight, contour, and dramatic pacing. Her public bio maps a path from early piano study into drums, composition, and darker art-pop writing, with threads of ethnic jazz, pop, fusion, and electronics. That background translates well inside Mikah Maquá’s frame: she can support hook-based material while adding urgency, asymmetry, and a harder emotional undercurrent.
“The Greek artist carries the set with her powerful rock voice, which she can take impressively high.” (Rogier van Nierop, 3voor12 Leiden, 2025-12-23)
Federica Fornaro
Federica Fornaro adds the project’s rougher guitar grain. Her documented work with Basiliscus P points to a player comfortable with psych rock, prog structures, 1990s alternative edges, and jazz-adjacent openness, which makes her especially useful in a band that needs songs to move beyond pure singer-songwriter framing. She is less about ornamental lead lines than about shape, texture, and expansion: widening choruses, introducing friction, and giving hooks a more physical body.
“A talented and eclectic Messina band.” (Nadia Cornetti, Off Topic Magazine, 2022-12-21)
SiYu Liu
SiYu Liu is the keys chair in this lineup. In band-DNA terms, the role is important: keys soften transitions, reinforce hooks, and connect the project’s retro-pop sheen to its more nervous rock edge. Public-facing January 2026 band posts identify the keys position as Sharon Liu under the handle @cactusinpoppy, so this profile keeps the role in the lineup while avoiding unverified biographical or discographic claims beyond its ensemble function.
Biography
Mikah Maquá is the project of Dutch-Canadian songwriter Maaike Girardin, building songs around awkward honesty, pop immediacy, and emotional whiplash. Public-facing bios and event texts consistently frame the act as a mix of retro synths, springy guitars, and catchy songwriting that turns vulnerability, humor, and instability into hooks built for the stage rather than the diary page.
Discography
Mikah Maquá
Singles: something to remember (2025), wish you were dead (2025), ADHD (mental break-up) (2025), someone else (2026), HELLO?! (2026). EP: people pleaser (2026).
Fay Arapatsani
Single: Hardpill (2024). EP: will I go under (2024). With Amalphi: album Acheron I (2019), EP Valley – Serpent – Womb (2023).
Federica Fornaro
With Basiliscus P: album Placenta (2017), singles Urban Safari (2022) and Magenta (2022), album Spuma (2022). Feature: Giadar, Mirror in the Mirror feat. Federica Fornaro (2022). Additional credited appearance: La Stanza della Nonna, Dove gli occhi non possono arrivare (2019).
SiYu Liu
No public discography could be independently verified under the supplied name.
Quotes
- “Her relatable yet catchy pop songs let vulnerability collide with brutality.” Hedon Zwolle, 2026-01-22
- “The Dutch-Canadian artist makes a mix of retro synths, springy guitars and catchy pop songs.” Poppunt Overijssel, 2026-01-22
- “This band has the most unique sound of the evening.” Rogier van Nierop, 3voor12 Leiden, 2025-12-23
- “The Greek artist carries the set with her powerful rock voice, which she can take impressively high.” Rogier van Nierop, 3voor12 Leiden, 2025-12-23
- “A talented and eclectic Messina band.” Nadia Cornetti, Off Topic Magazine, 2022-12-21
- “A more mature, experimental, complex and enveloping sound.” Laura Lipari, LetteraEmme, 2022-10-13
Reviews
- Mikah Maquá brengt met hulp van MSO debuut EP uit – Poppunt Overijssel – 2026-01-20 – https://poppuntoverijssel.nl/mikah-maqua-brengt-met-hulp-van-mso-debuut-ep-uit/
- Van zangles in De Meerpaal naar eigen muziek: Mikah Maquá’s muzikale reis – FlevoPost – 2025-12-24 – https://flevopost.nl/dronten/van-zangles-in-de-meerpaal-naar-eigen-muziek-mikah-maqua-s-muzikale-reis-47898303.html
- MIKAH MAQUÁ – Hedon Zwolle – 2026-01-22 – https://www.hedon-zwolle.nl/voorstelling/32766/mikah-maqua
- Formula Indie Schedule 5th to 11st January 2026 – European Indie Music Network – 2026-01-05 – https://euroindiemusic.info/2026/01/05/formula-indie-schedule-5th-to-11st-january-2026/
- Euro Indie Music Chart 3.26 – European Indie Music Network – 2026-01-27 – https://euroindiemusic.info/2026/01/27/euro-indie-music-chart-3-26/
- Douze points voor Griekenland – 3voor12 Leiden | Rogier van Nierop – 2025-12-23 – https://3voor12.vpro.nl/lokaal/leiden/artikelen/overzicht/2025/december/Nobel-Award-2025-finale.html
- Basiliscus P – Spuma (Tuma Records/The Orchard, 2022) – Off Topic Magazine | Nadia Cornetti – 2022-12-21 – https://offtopicmagazine.net/2022/12/21/basiliscus-p-spuma/
- Urban Safari: il nuovo singolo dei Basiliscus P in uscita il 13 ottobre 2022 – LetteraEmme | Laura Lipari – 2022-10-13 – https://www.letteraemme.it/urban-safari-il-nuovo-singolo-dei-basiliscus-p-in-uscita-il-13-ottobre-2022/
- Interview – Basiliscus P – Indie-Roccia | Smoking Area – 2022-09-08 – https://www.indie-roccia.it/interviste/interview-basiliscus-p/
