Photo credit: ©Adrien Quevauviller
Born in Eindhoven in 1981, Ylva Berg began her musical activities at the age of 8. Her parents, of Swedish and Dutch-Caribbean origin, were great lovers of various types of music, from classical to jazz, from Balkan folk to Caribbean rhythms. With their support, singing quickly became a source of energy and fulfilment for her, through the National Children's Choir of the Netherlands (Nationaal Nederlands Kinderkoor) and private classical singing lessons. Her long history with piano, recorder and singing will accompany her until today.
The desire to sing jazz and Brazilian music grew during her teenage years, and Ylva started studying at the jazz conservatory in Maastricht and psychology at the university. In 2000, she decided to move to Brussels, where she left the instruments in the background for a few years, while she finished her studies in Socio-cultural Sciences at the VUB and travelled for five months to write her dissertation in Porto Alegre, Brazil. When she returned, the desire to sing took shape by leading a group of traditional songs from around the world called "Canteria", a joint project with Flávio Maciel de Souza. With him, she also developed her repertoire of Brazilian music in different formations and projects. In her projects, she seeks to bring out the vital and universal force of music, taking inspiration from musicians and artists from all over the world. She also combines musical initiation for children and teachers with her profession of coaching and stress management through the methods of mindfulness and deep democracy.
Currently, Ylva is forming an a capella singing duo with Felisa Cereceda: La Louve Heureuse. Their main project is to discover, deepen and arrange for 2 voices the repertoire of Violeta Parra, a renowned Chilean artist. Since 2019 they also work with the Argentinean guitarist Martin López Muro, in trio.
Ylva crossed paths with Bossa Flor in 2012 during a show on the history of bossa nova. A recent re-contact during a concert with Didier Sustrac in May 2019 gave the idea for an adaptation of the show with a narration in Dutch as part of the Bossa Flor2021-2022 season.