Ella Isotalo is a musician and composer from Helsinki. The material is inspired by the musical traditions of the Wagogo people of Tanzania as well as by her own Finnish heritage. Ella’s music is cinematic and takes the listener on a journey through fascinating and varied soundscapes.

In the concert, Ella plays the violin, the jouhikko (finnish bowed lyre), and the ilimba of the Wagogo (a type of thumb piano), and sings in both Finnish and Swahili. The pieces are built live, layer by layer, into a looper and they include improvisation. The Wagogo tradition, which Ella has studied in Tanzania, intertwines with her own South Ostrobothnian and Savo-Karelian roots.

Ella Isotalo – violin, ilimba, jouhikko, singing