WOMAD

As a child Bella was always singing. Edale was the ideal place to nurture this natural ability, with an abundance of communal song. Having played the fiddle a small amount at school, Bella attended a Folkworks Youth Summer School in Durham age 13. Motivated by the number of young people playing folk music, she was inspired to begin working on folk fiddle. She also met many of her great friends and musical companions.

Born in Kolkata (Calcutta) in 1963, Debashish Bhattacharya began learning classical Indian music from his parents in his childhood, and went on to a groundbreaking career. His invention, the 24-string Hindustani slide guitar, was modified from the Western guitar to create an entirely new instrument that is nevertheless faithful to the classical Indian tradition. Bhattacharya has collaborated with the American slide guitarist Bob Brozman and the jazz-fusion artist John McLaughlin of Shakti.