Premiere: French/Japanese Artist Maïa Barouh Releases Surreal New Video for “Ringo”

Taking inspiration from the eccentric Tokyo underground scene French/Japanese artist Maïa Barouh takes elements of traditional folk singing, tribal grooves, French rap and electronic elements to weave a sonically and culturally blended sound which fluctuates between roots and reinvention.

Having recently released her new album, AIDA, the album sees Barouh move into more cinematic territory for the surreal new single “RINGO”.

You can immerse yourself in the surreal world of the song as you check out our premiere of the video here:

Speaking about the track, Maia said:

“Melancholy and madness? Dream or reality? ‘RINGO’ is a unique journey through time. That of an unknown Japan and the more personal one of my family, of my father’s presence.”

Maia continues: “The ‘RINGO’ video is a first collaboration with my sister, the director Amie Barouh. She was the perfect person to film this dive into my childhood and the memories of our father. In the clip, the characters play their own role. A strange, dreamlike group of circus performers to which I belong.

As a teenager, I began my musical career in the vaults of Tokyo, surrounded by creatures from a Fellini film, Japanese version! Drag queens singing bossa nova with a plastic snake around their necks, strippers dancing to Buddhist monks’ mantras, a traditional street band, an old magician with pigtails, a gypsy guitarist, a singer of French songs in Japanese… All this because my father, Pierre Barouh, the eternal wanderer, found himself one day by chance in a lounge of songwriters in one of the hidden alleys of Shibuya. This is how these creatures meet today, reunited in this clip.”

AIDA is out now and you can pick up your copy from here.

Artwork for ‘AIDA’ by Maïa Barouh