Edgy and loving. Powerful and soft. Socially critical and personal. Classic, but always innovative. In service of others, but true to herself. That is Veya – the bedding for the creative juices, dreams and observations of Eva Scheltema. She brings together her skills as a violinist, singer and producer, her long experience as a musician and her constant inspiration in this magical musical project. Veya touches, enchants and excites her listeners with her unique sound.
Before Veya was born, Eva Scheltema spent her childhood in the classical world as a violinist. Years later, when a friend pulled her on stage as a singer during a jam session in South Africa, her world changed. She experienced the freedom to create music herself; to share her own sound with the world. And then Veya was born.
Scheltema has long-standing experience in the music industry as an improvisational violinist and session musician and has performed, among others, on stage at Vrienden van Amstel Live and in the studio with Armin van Buuren. By touring festivals all over the Netherlands with the successful band Dialoque as a violinist and singer, she grew into the creator and musician she is today: sharp, edgy, but also connecting and empathetic. Those qualities, combined with unexpected violin sounds, moving beats and compelling synthesizers, give Veya’s songs a catchy, yet unique character. She does not follow the beaten path and doesn’t change her music to fit any moulds, but puts her full soul and love for life into her creations.
In her lyrics, universal phenomena that do not get spoken about, get a personal voice. Because she’s convinced that whatever you encounter in life, it is your responsibility too. For example, in her first release ‘Fair Play’, she discusses how women sometimes struggle to be more than just their looks, and how shaving part of her long blond hair helped her to overcome that.
Veya gets inspired and moved by the connection she makes with her audience when she’s on stage. With a spirited live band and loops and effects on her violin, she shows that a classical instrument can also sound modern and innovative. With her music, she only wants to live her life to the fullest and thereby inspire the people around her to do the same. If she can just give one person a sense of recognition and support and show them that we’re really all the same, her mission has been accomplished. Because music heals, Veya is sure of that.
