CLANDESTINO FESTIVAL

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Composer and producer Leila Arab who now uses just “Leila” as her artist name has been in the wonderful world of recorded music for almost two decades. Leila is originally from Iran but moved with her family to London during the Islamic revolution in 1979. She is a longtime collaborator of Björk, playing keyboards, live-mixing and co-producing. Although Leila lists the Icelandic singer as one of her biggest inspirations (along with Salvadore Dali) she says the following about her opening DJ set for one of Björk’s live shows that recently got a mixed reception; “It was funny, really, that some people had a bad reaction to it. They were, like, ‘What’s all that noise?’ As if it wasn’t the sort of thing they were expecting. I don’t mean to break their hearts, but if they think Björk sits around at home listening to handbag house all day, they’re in for a bit of a shock.”  Leila has been described as “part sonic terrorist, part harmonic evangelist”, and well-respected DJ and music aficionado Gilles Peterson has called her “the best of what Britain has to offer in the cutting edge of music”. Bringing together influences from electronica, funk, soul, hip-hop, pop and classical music, Leila is a melting pot of styles and moods.  She debuted as an album artist on Richard D. James’s (Aphex Twin) label Rephlex records in 1998.  In 2000 her second album “Courtesy of Choice” was released on XL Recordings. Last year, after an eight year hiatus as an album artist, the Warp label (famous for pioneering cutting edge electronic artists like Autechre and Flying Lotus) issued her 3rd album “Blood, blooms and looms”, which has been hailed as a brilliant comeback.