We represent the singer, song-writer, musician, composer, dancer and contemporary choreographer AYAA (stage name of Galina Veretnova). AYAA's heritage and chief inspiration are the indigenous cultures of the North, especially those of her native Siberia.
AYAA draws her music and rhythms from her own Evenki roots, but also reflects on other indigenous musical styles, as well as constantly experimenting with contemporary beats. Folk-techno fusion, mystic dubstep, digital synth-meets traditional throat singing: these are AYAA's playground and her delight. Drawing from tradition and recreating seed-syllables and rhythms over the heavy sub-bass lines of the metropolis. Galina Veretnova has studied traditional Evenki song culture, circle dance and costume from early childhood, and has gained recognition as a culture carrier at the age of 24. She holds a Masters degree in Ethno-psychology from Herzen State University, and a BFA in Indigenous Pedagogy and Traditional Arts from the East-Siberian Institute of Culture. A true trail-blazer, Galina has won many awards for her work, both preserving Evenki culture and forging new experimental pathways to explore it in a modern era - truly laying tracks through deep snow for her people. As AYAA, she was distinguished with the Women's voice of the Arctic national award, in the singer-songwriter category, and was the subject of a documentary film Women's Voice of the Arctic, for this achievement in 2022. She was also the finalist of the international Sound of Eurasia festival in 2024 and won first place Solo-artist in the interregional Gonchikova Festival and at the Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples Concert in 2025.
Galina helped form AYAA as an international ethno-pop collective, fusing traditional Evenki music with elements of electronic, pop, jazz, folk, and experimental soundscapes including traditional animal sound mimicry - the resultant musical experience is unlike any other. AYAA have performed for trance dance festivals, for sound-healing workshops, and have given concerts across Asia to large crowds in opera venues and public park evening events, drawing hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. She has also sung a solo performance of Ave Maria in St. Peterburg's Kuntskamera and made the Arctic voices soundtrack for the British Museum's Arctic: Culture and Climate Exhibition. Describing the effect of this sound installation The Guardian art critic Laura Cumming wrote "The soundtrack stealing through the galleries takes you straight to the Arctic – the cracking of ice, wind blowing across water, the barking of huskies and, occasionally, the singing of historical roundelays...there are stories everywhere." Read the whole 5 star review HERE.
Music for AYAA is written and composed by Veretnova and produced by sound-producer Ruslan Dulyaev (Ruslan De). Their band has been successfully touring the world since 2024. The first release of of the 2024 "Omi Soninin" (Soul of the Warrior in Evenki dialect) took the Ethnic music award in the Sounds of Eurasia festival. Since then AYAA has been preparing debut album of ancient Evenki songs reinterpreted for contemporary international audiences.
AYAA has toured in Great Britain, China, Turkey, Russia, and Central Asia. Her music has also been used in films. Her song "Такe Her voice" plays in "Арктика - имя женское" (Arctic is a Woman's Name).

Apart from her work in music, Galina Veretnova has coordinated multiple fashion shows, fusing traditional and contemporary design, has exhibited her handmade jewellery pieces in international museums, including the Pitt Rivers and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Has executed and delivered fashion shoots of indigenous costume for fashion and culture publications, such as Zov Zemli (Call of the Earth) and has collaborated with contemporary British artist Anya Gleizer to co-curate a large-scale performance at the Oxford Pitt Rivers Museum for the Wandering in Other Worlds Project.
Galina is the director, choreographer, and specialist in Evenki culture at the MBUK Vanavara Club System, having moved back to her homeland after working as the Chief Specialist for Cultural and Educational Projects in the Ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg.
She attributes all her inspiration, and her drive to her ancestors. They were also artist, shamans, and dedicated to the welfare of the people.Her grandfather was a professional musician. He played a pivotal role in encouraging Galina towards her transformation into AYAA.
A twin fire comes to her from the natural world, her homeland, the earth beneath her feet. Galina is a passionate water defender, an advocate for the natural world and its sovereignty. She helped develop the Museum of Climate Hope project in the UK, through Oxford University - a project that underscores the role of culture and its institutions (schools, museums, galleries) in the fight for climate justice. Nature sings through her as AYAA - an elemental force, which she believes can heal the most broken aspects of our culture.
For 10 years AYAA has been performing all over the world at regional, national and international events, captivating audiences with the versatility and depth of Evenki traditional music. An authentic voice, a keen mastery of different singing styles and a careful, respectful
attitude to her heritage and elders, have made AYAA a unique keeper
of traditional indigenous song. Her ambition is to use these songs as shield and spear in the healing of the world.