Ellie is a Bristol based singer, performer and composer. Their collaborative performance work has ranged from intimate shows designed for an audience of one to sold out theatre tours across the UK and Europe. Ellie has worked with many amazing artists and companies including Verity Standen, Jocelyn Pook, Laila Diallo, Bea Roberts, NIE and Tobacco Factory Theatres. 

Ellie’s compositions have been played on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Bristol and can be heard in theatre shows throughout the South-West. In their work Ellie is constantly looking for new ways to explore the human voice and they are absolutely delighted to be writing a new piece for the British Music Collection. 

On top of their work in music and theatre, Ellie recently co founded Queer Space Bristol CIC – an organisation dedicated to programming creative workshops and events for LGBTQIA+ folks in the South West. 

The project: “Christianity has been policing the bodies and sexual expression of queer people for centuries. This year the Church of England is reassessing how it treats the LGBTQIA+ community...but what about the legacy the Church has left us? A Mass for the Masses is a vocal A-capella piece written for queer people (but applicable to anyone who has felt controlled or sidelined by the Church). With dissonant, rich harmonies, combining contemporary classical and traditional plainsong styles, this piece is a celebration of humanity, self expression and loving who you are with an open message for those the Church has left behind.”

ellieshowering.com

Lunatraktors are choreographer and percussionist Carli Jefferson, and nonbinary vocalist and composer Clair Le Couteur. Their 'broken folk' sound strips trad folk back to rhythm and voice. Clair's overtone techniques and four octave range combine with the hybrid of tap and body percussion that Jefferson developed after touring with Stomp. The pair turned heads in 2019 when their DIY debut This Is Broken Folk – recorded live in a viaduct arch by Ramsgate harbour – made it onto MOJO Magazine's Top Ten Folk Albums. 

Jefferson’s compulsion to dance while drumming prompted Lunatraktors to put together a tonal percussion kit, providing both rhythmic and melodic elements to their sound. A double act in the old fashioned sense, Le Couteur’s channeling of multiple tragi-comic characters matches Jefferson’s hyper-expressive performance style. Reimagining British folk through a shared teenage absorption in flamenco, post-punk and trip hop, Lunatraktors have built up a passionate fanbase through performances at festivals, art galleries, museums, theatres and queer cabarets. 

Recent commissions include contemporary folk songs commemorating Britain’s earliest female saint for Folkestone Museum, exploring a Roman ‘Lar’ statuette for Guildhall Museum, and a performance for a hoard of Bronze Age artefacts. Their new album The Missing Star releases on the Summer Solstice, 21.06.21. 

The project: “Stamping and clapping breaks silence: anger, anxiety and grief become uplifting, energising. With two body percussionists, a vast polyrhythmic space opens. In overtone singing, one voice produces multiple tones. When two overtone singers work in reverberant space, eerie ‘lost voices’ appear. Now The Time is composed in relation to Anglo–Irish folk traditions, particularly keening and the neglected body of songs in 5/4 time. It addresses the gap in the folk music archive where trans and queer narratives should be. It is an act of mourning for silenced voices and stories, transforming erasure and violence into acceptance, transcendence and power.” 

Precious Oni who musically identifies as MÉLOMAN3 is an alternative urban-jazz artist who experiments with Soul, Afro, Asian, British and R’N’B sounds. She grew up in South London and Portsmouth where she was raised on the sounds of Sade Adu, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes and Ms Dynamite. Often described as a lady with a “je ne sais quoi” feel she has aims to sweep her listen off their feet and into an alternative reality. 

The project: MÉLOMAN3 aims to take listeners on a journey of connecting the mind, body and soul. After going through was she articulates as a spiritual awakening she shares subliminals of the connection of being, and expresses her experiences within her sexuality,  Self-love and discovery.