
SwN Artists
Faris Ishaq is a Palestinian Nay Master, Percussionist, and Composer who charts unexplored territories with the Nay, an ancient Middle Eastern flute dating back to 5000 B.C. Rooted in his Palestinian heritage and passion for the Nay, Faris celebrates its cultural legacy in today’s modern musical landscape.
Shohret Nur is an outstanding young Uyghur musician, based in London. He specialises in playing the Uyghur stringed instruments dutar and rawap. Originally from Kashgar, Xinjiang, Shohret’s great-grandfather and grandmother were both dutar players. Continuing this rich musical legacy, Shohret is helping to bring Uyghur music to wider attention around the world.
Rihab Azar is a Syrian oud player, composer and community workshop leader, and graduate of the conservatoire of Damascus (2014).
Multifaceted artist and producer, ILĀ's work traverses ethereal non-binary vocal timbre, dense sonic textures and quantum data sonification. Their practice explores fluidity from personal identity through to socio-economic systems with a focus on physics, philosophy and technology. ILĀ has performed globally with recent commissions including UN/BOUND for Barbican Immersive "Feel the Sound" in collaboration with TRANS VOICES and MONOM, which launches in May 2025 and will tour internationally for 5 years. As co-founder/director of legendary choir London Contemporary Voices, ILĀ has worked with over 20 Grammy-winning artists including Florence and the Machine, Imogen Heap and U2. In 2022, they co-founded Trans Voices, the U.K.'s first professional trans+ choir.
Anna Phoebe is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and presenter whose solo performances transform the violin into a force of nature. Building visceral soundscapes, she creates immersive experiences that are both raw and cinematic.
A voice that seems to speak to us from the heart of the Estonian forest, Mari Kalkun’s music is at once of a place and deeply personal. Rooted in ancient Estonian and Võru traditions, and played on a variety of instruments including kannel, her music—for those of us with ears and hearts open—resonates deep within us to touch our spirits, our souls, even when the language is strange to us.
Marysia Osu is a Polish-born, London-based harpist, producer, and composer known for her innovative blend of classical, ambient, and jazz music. Her debut album, harp, beats & dreams, explores themes of philosophy, dreams, and the interplay between the conscious and unconscious mind. The album is an intimate journey into her inner world, composed as a series of diary-like entries that served her as a means of self-soothing and reflection. Fully self-produced, it documents her evolution as a solo composer and producer.
Yazz Ahmed, a British-Bahraini trumpet and flugelhorn player, seeks to blur the lines between jazz and electronic sound design, bringing together the sounds of her mixed heritage in what has been described as 'psychedelic Arabic jazz.' Her groundbreaking work has earned her prestigious accolades including the Ivor Novello Award for Innovation and Jazz FM's UK Jazz Act of the Year.
Konstantinos Glynos is a London-based kanun player. Drawing from his experiences of performing and studying in the diverse London music scene he performs music spanning from the Balkan and Greek to Turkish Arabic and Flamenco traditions as well as Medieval and Baroque Western music. He has collaborated with dancers, visual artists and composers, and he has performed in many world music festivals around the UK and Europe, as well as highly acclaimed UK venues such as Ronnie Scott's, Vortex, Jazz Cafe, BBC Broadcasting House, Richmix, Union Chapel, Minack theatre, The Place and others. He currently collaborates, performs and records with "The Turbans", "Tip the Waiter", "Lux Musicae London" and "Idrisi Ensemble" and he is about to release his first studio album with the band "Mandalakia" in March 2025.
Multi-instrumentalist, actress, singer, writer and educator, Anna Mudeka is a polymath proud to share the ancestral heritage of her native Zimbabwe through performance and workshops, inviting audiences of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to immerse themselves in sounds, spiritualism and fables of Africa. Steeped in the history and heritage of her Zimbabwean roots, Anna Mudeka conjures the rich cultural tapestry of sub-saharan Africa through an ever-evolving programme of creative projects. From her multi-talented solo theatrical and musical productions, to large scale choral performances and educational workshops, Anna’s mission is to engage and inspire audiences with the traditions, sounds and legends of her Shona forebears.
Hugh Sheehan is a musician, composer, sound designer, and audio producer from Birmingham. Having spent 10 years in Helsinki, Hugh is ow based in London. He produces work for concert hall, theatre, moving image, radio, and podcast. The foundations of his practice lie in Irish traditional music and contemporary classical music, whilst much of his work explores questions of gender and sexuality, desire and shame, assimilation and radicalism.
Garwyn Linnell is a Canadian born Welsh-Chinese cellist and musician with a deep passion for exploring diverse music genres, artistic collaborations, and innovative performance styles. After completing his classical performance studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, and the Royal Academy of Music in London, Garwyn broadened his artistic horizons, embracing a wide range of creative expressions.
Alkanna Greaca is a new vocal trio blending raw folk traditions from the Balkans, Mediterranean, and Black Sea with free improvisation and expansive soundscapes. Formed by Dunja Botic, Alexandra Achillea, and Irini Arabatzi, the trio’s music intertwines the rich cultural heritage of their homelands with a bold, boundary-pushing edge.
Having spent years travelling the world sharing music in singing and prayer rituals, Nick Barbachano has dedicated much of his life to building community through ritual, music, prayer, togetherness and celebration.
Malin Lewis is an innovator and an award-winning, multi-instrumentalist who melds Scottish West coast tradition with a newly invented, self-made bagpipe. Hair tingling, philosophical and dance-inducing melodies inspired by European folk traditions, queerness and the universe.
Mohamed Errebbaa was born in Rabat, a Moroccan musician and Master in the GNAWA world. He spent a decade travelling throughout Morocco, studying the diverse regional musical traditions under some of the leading musicians in the country. In southern Morocco, he immersed himself in the study of Issawa, Deqqa folkloric percussion, and became especially passionate about the three-stringed Gnawa bass lute, the Guembri. After mastering these traditional musical forms, he launched his international career.
Christopher (they/them, he/him) is a dynamic harpist and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans classical, contemporary, and experimental music. Originally from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, they began their harp studies at the age of three with Anita Leschied and developed a passion for music through early experiences in piano, flute, guitar, and voice. By the time they graduated from Vincent Massey Secondary School in 2016, Christopher had already worked with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra as a solo vocalist, served as principal harpist of the Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestra, and acted as Music Director for Arts Collective Theatre.
Hayden Thorpe came to prominence as the lead singer and chief songwriter for the much-celebrated band Wild Beasts who released five acclaimed albums on Domino Records before disbanding.
Fohn brings connection, displacement and new identities into the moment, on his pastoral debut album Seanteach - informed by island life, marine folklore and musical tradition.
Manuel Linhares is an acclaimed Portuguese jazz singer, known for his versatility as a performer, composer, and educator. Splitting his time between New York and Porto, Portugal, he has made a significant impact on the global jazz scene with three albums of original music, earning recognition both in Portugal and internationally.
Susheela Raman is a singer and composer, acclaimed for her melodic and experimental musical works across genres and frontiers. She has released eight albums, including the Mercury-shortlisted ‘Salt Rain’. Susheela has performed all over the world and is known for her singular voice and stage presence. The Guardian described her as “that rarity: a true innovator”.
Noga Ritter is a London-based singer-songwriter, band leader, and workshop facilitator whose music blends Hebrew Jazz with global grooves. With songs sung in both Hebrew and English, she weaves intimate and personal stories into a compelling narrative of social-global issues. Her performances, whether stripped-down or with her full 10-piece band, are passionate and energetic, captivating audiences and getting them moving to the soul of her music.
Tamsin is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and filmmaker with roots in the traditional dance tunes of the British Isles. Her debut solo album FREY (Penny Fiddle Records, 2022) established her as a rising star on the folk scene, with The Guardian praising her "beautiful, filmic compositions for accordion, harp, whistle and voice”. Exploring themes of chronic illness and environmental grief, FREY offers a poignant reflection on the human experience, whilst her forthcoming album The Meeting Tree celebrates connection, nature and the joy of sharing tunes with friends. Tamsin’s trio features long-term collaborators Sid Goldsmith on cittern and concertina and Rowan Elliott on fiddle.
Tarek Elazhary, an Egyptian oud player and composer, graduated from the Arab Oud House in 2014 under the mentorship of the renowned Iraqi oud player, Nasser Shamma. He has participated in numerous local and international festivals with the Arab Oud Orchestra.
Tamar Osborn is a UK-based saxophonist/woodwind player and composer renowned for her innovative approach and versatility across genres, bringing a wealth of experience from a career informed by observation, participation and variety.
Debs Newbold is an internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning storyteller, writer and theatre artist who creates fresh, playful work that gets deep under the skin.
Dr Sara Salloum is a Renaissance lute player and scholar who reenacts the performances of musicians – particularly women – from sixteenth and seventeenth-century Europe. She has performed in diverse settings including historic houses and castles, cathedrals, galleries and museums, opera houses and concert halls, cafés and bars. Her PhD brought her skills as a performing musician together with scholarship, and developed fresh and original methods for conducting historical and musical research.
Mira Awad is a multidisciplinary international artist and activist (artivist), dedicated to the message of peace, empathy and solidarity. Born in Rameh village in the Galilee, to a Palestinian father and Bulgarian mother, Mira was raised in a multicultural, socially involved environment. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Haifa, and Music at the Rimon School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. She currently lives in London.
Zara McFarlane is a multi-award-winning vocalist and songwriter from London, UK. She studied Musical Theatre at the prestigious BRIT School of Performing Arts, has a degree in Popular Music Performance and a Masters degree in Jazz Studies from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has recently been awarded a Fellowship from the GSMD.
Iñigo Mikeleiz-Berrade, hailing from Barañáin, Spain, is an acclaimed accordionist whose performances have graced prestigious venues including the Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, he has collaborated with the London Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra, premiering multiple concertos for accordion.