Born in Moscow (1983), Zarifa was immersed into music since her childhood.
From the age of three she made representations and sang in the Gypsy theater troupe in which her mother was an actress.
Fascinated, she sings as soon as the opportunity arises.
At thirteen she joined the Guitis, the most prestigious art school in Moscow.
Zarifa studied piano and especially singing to wich she had already decided to devote her life.
Thanks to her teacher, Tatiana Bashkirova, her passion will only get stronger.
She left Guitis at the age of 15 to follow her mother who decided to move to France after a singing tour of her "cabaret Russe".
Zarifa then meets her step-father who is none other than Florin Niculescu, one of the world's greatest violinists.
Impressed by the vocal and musical qualities of Zarifa, Florin invites her gradually into jazz.
She discovers standards and great voices as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, etc..
A year later, during a concert of Bireli Lagrene at the “petit journal” in Montparnasse, she met Anne Ducros.
She will follow her course for a year before deciding to start on her own ...
Zarifa then began working with the great figures of jazz Jacques Vidal, Frederick Silvestre, Rodolphe Raffalli .... with whom she occurs in several Parisian clubs.
And of course with Florin Niculescu who invited her to sing at his breation of "Djangophonie" in Toulouse in October 2003 .
Today Zarifa has started her own project, "My standards": a selection of great themes of soul and jazz, accompanied by a trio of the young québecois pianist Thuryn Mitchell, and with the participation of Marcel Azzola and Sylvain Luc.