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Bela Emerson
Introduction[edit]
Bela Emerson is an experimental cellist and composer based in Brighton, UK. She plays both acoustic and electric cello, uses electronics and other instruments including a musical saw, and her solo performances and recordings combine improvisation with live processing.
Alongside solo performances and releases, her music has been commissioned for use in films, theatre, dance productions and live art projects, she has collaborated with artists of various styles and approaches, including filmmakers, dancers, circus performers and poets, and she has played live and recorded with JFB, The Damned, Tim Exile, Philippe Petit & Lydia Lunch, The Lawless, Lianne Hall, Dead Voices on Air, Elle Osborne, Nick Pynn, and British Sea Power. Her work has recently been remixed by John Wills (Pumajaw, ex-Loop), Douglas Benford, and Same Actor amongst others.
Musical style[edit]
Bela Emerson has been described as playing “passionate, evocative and spontaneously-composed music of no definable genre” [1]. She uses electronic processing and loops to build up layers which are then modulated. She has worked in genres as varied as riot grrrl punk, pop, avant-jazz, rock, experimental electronica, techno, Gypsy and Balkan folk [2].
Earlier work: 1992 - 2007[edit]
Although a classically-trained cellist, Bela entered the music scene as bassist for Leeds riot grrrl band Coping Saw from 1992 to 1995. A bedroom chamber music project with Justine Wolfenden of Hemiola Records was the impetus for her to pick up her cello again, and when Lianne Hall announced in 1995 that she wanted to work with a cellist, her involvement with riot grrrl and its very immediate, DIY ethos meant that she had the confidence to put herself forward. Together they played under the name Hip Huggers until 2003, during which time they recorded four Peel Sessions for BBC Radio One.
Midway through the 90s she started to deviate from her classical training, making exploratory steps into improvisation and sound art. She acquired a bass overdrive guitar pedal, and gradually incorporated more pedals and then loopers into her equipment range. She worked on a number of projects including a recording project with Robert Heaton (ex-New Model Army).
In the early-mid 2000s she performed and collaborated with Invisible Circus, played on sessions with British Sea Power and Big Eyes, and began to perform as a solo artist at venues across the UK and Europe. She composed a piece for live performance to accompany the acrobat Emily Rose and the Jamboree Circus cabaret group at Hastings Castle. In 2003 she worked on collaborative compositions with trio Drei for theatre group Lexicon and dance troupe Grrlesque, giving performances at Brighton Festival Fringe and Lost Vagueness at Glastonbury Festival.
Commissions and compositions[edit]
To date, she has worked on a soundtrack commission funded by PRS for Music, for acrobatic dance company Mimbre’s Falling Up[3], and has contributed music for a feature film, Throw of the Dice, premiered at the London Asian Film Festival in March 2012. She has written and recorded soundtracks for four Tereza Buskova films amongst others.
In 2011 she was commissioned by BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction to play a set at Latitude Festival to be broadcast on their show.
Live performances[edit]
From the early 2000s, Bela has played a number of solo performances including shows at Union Chapel, Islington, Vortex Jazz Club, and London’s Royal Courts of Justice. As a solo performer, she has headlined tours of North America and Europe in addition to festival appearances at Supersonic Festival and Big Chill. In collaboration with Stomp (dance troupe)’s Pandemonium: the Lost and Found Orchestra, she played performance runs at Sydney Opera House, Royal Festival Hall and Royal Theater Carré.
In 2011-2 Bela played a solo headline tour of the Netherlands (including a session for Dutch national radio station, VPRO), performed at public lectures/demonstrations with Dr Harry Witchel (C4’s Big Brother, BBC Radio 4) and performed live with 2011 DMC World DJ Champion JFB. There are plans for her to perform as part of a trio with Elle Osborne (fiddle, voice) & Adam Bushell (percussion), and with Lene Lovich and Shabaka Hutchings.