Calina Maria Purje – born in November 1992 was a music lover long before she was born. She clearly remembers sitting in front of a huge monitor at the age of 3, listening to „Child In Time ”, headbanging to Queen at the kitchen table and carrying her purple microphone with her at all times, constantly singing anything, anywhere at any time. And as time passed, her passion for music only grew bigger and bigger.
At 14 she was already a proud member of a band called Spuza. She started out as a bass guitar player, until she discovered her voice and started exploring more of her talents. In the same time she started organizing concerts at first for her own band and later for others as well, in her home town Targu Mures, and later more nearby locations. She also volunteered for a local cultural NGO called Amphion, which allowed her and fellow volunteers to participate in organizing a lot of events: concerts, plays, even small festivals.
In 2011, seeking the richer cultural life and professional development opportunities offered by a big city, she moved to Bucharest, where she continued her studies and graduated from The University of Journalism and Communication, earning a license in „New Media”. There, she had the pleasure of collaborating with a well known band in Romania, ‘’KUMM’’ with whom she produced and launched a highly recognizable and successful single “Sa nu spui nimanui”.
Another important chapter of her musical career is playing bass in the band Space Neede, with whom she released an album and got featured on the soundtrack of the internationally acclaimed horror movie Fright Night 2: New Blood. Furthermore, she was part of DBLTRBL, a rock duo. As a result of her lifelong love and support for the underground scene, Calina highly enjoys seeking out new emerging or underrated artists and using all the tools available to help them find their audience.
Professionally, she mainly based her professional ventures on her passions and chose to work in positions closely tied with the music industry. She worked with the (exiled) Radio Guerrilla team at Gold FM, she briefly collaborated with Radio Romania Cultural, she helped with the growth of an artistic hub at Gradina Sticlarilor and collaborated with the labels Fiever House Records and Asphalt Tango Records.
In 2015, together with Alex Purje, she brought the international platform BalconyTv to Bucharest. For 2 years, every Friday, artists from romania or abroad, found a place to showcase their artistry on balconies with great views above the capital. She wrote music related content, conducted interviews at festivals and produced a mini-vlog for a beer brand.
Between 2019 and 2021 she took a little professional break called “Maternity Leave” during which her musical performances were mostly composed of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Somewhere Over the Rainbow… and a lot of Bruno Mars, especially „the song with the monkeys”.
Since the summer of 2021 she took over the production of „Diud, Where’s my tune?” a creative playground that blends live music with beautiful cinematography. The project, that’s been going on for 5 seasons now, brings under the same umbrella artists from all genres. It’s a quality, niche product, a cultural documentation of the music of our times that is also entertaining. Calina is in charge of the production, booking, event planning and development of the brand.
Naturally at the beginning of 2022 Calina started managing Dora Gaitanovici, a young, creative and ambitious band. Together they produced a series of concerts, an album, an album release and a tour and they’re constantly searching for growth opportunities. The Women in Music Mentorship Programme brought the collaboration with another amazing artist, Cristina Lupu. Since the beginning of 2023 Calina has also been a strategist at Bandbook – a platform that provides booking, management and PR services to a handful of young, talented musicians but also some already established bands.