Drummers - Leila Bela
Leila Bela (Persian: بلا ليلى ) (born in Tehran, Iran)
is an Iranian-born American avant-garde musician, writer, actress,
multi-instrumentalist and record producer from Austin, Texas.
Biography
Bela was born in Iran. At the age of 14, she began writing freelance
articles about indie musicians for various local papers. Her first major
job was an interview with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. She started
her first magazine in 1998 while attending college at The University of
Houston, where she majored in theatre, physics, photography and
playwriting. She was one of five students out of thousands of people
from her theatre school to study with Edward Albee, an award-winning
playwright. She also studied Shakespeare with Sir Peter Hall. She
performed such roles as Natalia in Three Sisters in 2001, Lady Nijo in
Top Girls in 2002, Regan in King Lear, Pheobe in As You Like It, and
Antigine in Antigone.[1]
She joined the supergroup Pigface briefly in 2004 after an invite from
bandleader Martin Atkins to play drums with the band while performing as
an opening act.[2]
Bela left the band to pursue other projects. In 2002, Bela launched
Ellahy Amen Records, a label based in Paris, France and Austin, Texas
for avant-garde musicians. She got the idea to start her own label after
getting offers from other labels that she wasn't satisfied with. Artists
signed to the label have included Bela, six-year-old singer-songwriter,
Maya Bond and Lexion Blacklord, a musician from Switzerland. (She is
also responsible for producing Bond's 2004 debut Pink Drums, Purple
Lights.) She completed a tour with Bond in 2005 to promote their music.
She is also the creator of a custom-made instrument called a beltar,
which has sympathetic strings and can play either noise or melody. The
beltar can be used both electrically or acoustically. Bela designed it
to look like a weapon based on her theory that "instruments are the
weapons of angels".[citation needed] She is a deep believer of
Christianity and Jesus Christ.[citation needed]
Angra Manyu
In 2002, Bela recorded and produced her debut album, Angra Manyu on the
label. The album consists of 65 tracks, which Bela dubs a concept album.
The album consists of different sounds which Bela recorded in her
apartment. On the album, Bela used various objects found around her
apartment as musical instruments, including hairbrushes, a vacuum
cleaner, and pots filled with water. On the track, "One Night", for
example, Bela used her cat, Loralie and bells while whispering in the
background. She used Japanese and Tibetian growling vocals, plus 17
various instruments from around the world. The album was released in
2003. In 2004, she was invited to play SXSW's music festival.to promote
the album.[3] According to an article written in the Free Press about
the album, Angra Manyu, avant-garde metal vocalist Mike Patton, a former
friend of Bela's, helped put Bela's album together. However, Bela stated
in a reprint of the article that Patton never helped her with any aspect
of the album.[4]
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leila_Bela
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