a

All ideas streamlined into a single flow of creativity. Smiltė.

LA offices

East London Sound Ensemble

ELSE is an intercultural, electro-acoustic ensemble from East London.

We are sound artists, composers and musicians from different backgrounds where we explore new ideas in sound and music by merging the diverse cultural elements in an innovative way. We all come from different backgrounds but we all share an interest in forming an intercultural musical language with using various instruments and electronics in a hybrid way. We are after exploring and producing different sounds and create new music.

Subscribe to our mailing list to hear more about upcoming concerts and workshops


    Follow Us On:

    Listen

    Echoes / Shadows

    “Echoes / Shadows” is composed as a 12 channel sound installation which formed by a choral piece.

    The piece echoes one single line which is “for you and me”. This line is used to underline the connection between the individual and its surroundings. Therefore it’s a reminder of every individual action’s impact on the whole environment, as in “butterfly effect”.

    The album can be streamed on all major music platforms.

    Raindrops

    As a tribute to Scratch Orchestra’s 50th anniversary, ELSE has produced audiovisual works with performing the music of some Scratch Orchestra composers.

    Raindrops by Hugh Shrapnel

    Stories

    Neither in the time / Nor entirely out of it

    Our new video performance is now online on YouTube. It takes its concept and inspiration from a Turkish poem by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar. Tanpinar is widely regarded as one of the most important representatives of modernism in Turkish literature. English transcription of the poem can be found below:

    I’m neither in the time
    Nor entirely out of it
    I am in an unbreakable stream of
    a monolithic, wide moment.

    With the colour of a strange dream
    Every shape seems paralysed
    Even a feather flying in the wind
    not as light as me.

    My head grinds the silence,
    like a mill infinitely wide
    Inside of me – has reached its desires,
    A coatless and cloakless dervish

    The world became an ivy,
    I sense its roots within me.
    Blue, a light that is so blue
    I am swimming inside of it

    Programme:

    Netiher In Time – Part I
    Zeynebim (Turkish Folk Song)
    Transitions
    Kanuock
    Raindrops by Hugh Shrapnel
    Incecikten bir kar yagar (Turkish Folk Song)
    Masal by Ahmet Adnan Saygun
    Neither In The Time – Part II

    Listen something ELSE

    Please join us on Spotify to listen something ELSE. Our new and hand picked Spotify playlist “something ELSE | Contemporary Classical” is on Spotify.

    Our playlist will be updated on a regular basis and you can find pieces from contemporary and innovative composers, artists and ensembles.

    Fieldwave

    How does a wifi station would sound like?

    In Nonclassical’s Fieldwave Workshop we have discovered East London trough electromagnetic microphones. Using the recordings we have done during the workshop we have created our first fieldwave work; “Electromagnetic Fieldwave”. In our work we mainly used versatile electromagnetic sound sources that were recorded from a wifi station as well as other field recordings that we have done around Bethnal Green. “Electromagnetic Fieldwave” can be listened on Nonclassical’s Soundcloud.

    Events

    Upcoming Events

    “Echoes / Shadows” (Performance) | Regents Street Cinema / London (Postponed)

    Date: September 25, 2020
    Time: 12:00 am - 12:00 am
    Location: London

    St Matthew Passion: Reimagined | Omnibus Theatre / London (Postponed)

    Date: March 29, 2021
    Time: 12:00 am - 12:00 am
    Location: London
    
    

     

    Past Events

    “Echoes / Shadows” (Sound Installation) | Cumhuriyet Art Gallery / Istanbul

    Start date: September 9, 2019 - End date: December 30, 2019
    Time: 12:00 am - 12:00 am
    Location: Istanbul

    “LCP Presents East London Sound Ensemble” | The Victoria / London

    Date: April 14, 2019
    Time: 12:00 am - 12:00 am
    Location: London

    “The Myth and The Reality” | Poetry Cafe / London

    Date: April 6, 2019
    Time: 12:00 am - 12:00 am
    Location: London

    Untamed Artists – Factory 46 / London

    Date: January 25, 2019
    Time: 12:00 am - 12:00 am
    Location: London

    “Things That Make for Peace” | October Gallery / London

    Date: October 16, 2018
    Time: 12:00 am - 12:00 am
    Location: London

    Stories

    Triptych: Fragmentation and Repetition
    East London Sound Ensemble performs ‘Triptych: Fragmentation and Repetition’ live at The state51 Conservatoire.

    An electroacoustic work that takes inspiration from three different colour (red, purple, and blue). It is an experiment that explores forming a soundscape through fragmentations and repetitions of various sound sources. You can listen to the album on all music platforms and live performance on State51 YouTube channel.

    Through My Window
    Our latest audiovisual work “Through My Window” is available to watch at Strangelove Festival’s summer edition “Time Out”.

    This work has been created based on the video submissions of people from different parts of the world. It features 35 video submissions showing the view from people’s own places which were recorded during the lockdown. Although the work takes its essence from “isolation” on the contrary it explores the ways of “connection” as we take a contemplative moment to look out through different windows of the world and see inspiring gestures from the combination of them.

    Neither in the time / Nor entirely out of it

    Our new video performance is now online on YouTube. It takes its concept and inspiration from a Turkish poem by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar. Tanpinar is widely regarded as one of the most important representatives of modernism in Turkish literature. English transcription of the poem can be found below:

    I’m neither in the time
    Nor entirely out of it
    I am in an unbreakable stream of
    a monolithic, wide moment.

    With the colour of a strange dream
    Every shape seems paralysed
    Even a feather flying in the wind
    not as light as me.

    My head grinds the silence,
    like a mill infinitely wide
    Inside of me – has reached its desires,
    A coatless and cloakless dervish

    The world became an ivy,
    I sense its roots within me.
    Blue, a light that is so blue
    I am swimming inside of it

    Programme:

    Netiher In Time – Part I
    Zeynebim (Turkish Folk Song)
    Transitions
    Kanuock
    Raindrops by Hugh Shrapnel
    Incecikten bir kar yagar (Turkish Folk Song)
    Masal by Ahmet Adnan Saygun
    Neither In The Time – Part II

    Listen something ELSE

    Please join us on Spotify to listen something ELSE. Our new and hand picked Spotify playlist “something ELSE | Contemporary Classical” is on Spotify.

    Our playlist will be updated on a regular basis and you can find pieces from contemporary and innovative composers, artists and ensembles.

     

    Fieldwave

    How does a wifi station would sound like?

    In Nonclassical’s Fieldwave Workshop we have discovered East London trough electromagnetic microphones. Using the recordings we have done during the workshop we have created our first fieldwave work; “Electromagnetic Fieldwave”. In our work we mainly used versatile electromagnetic sound sources that were recorded from a wifi station as well as other field recordings that we have done around Bethnal Green. “Electromagnetic Fieldwave” can be listened on Nonclassical’s Soundcloud.