Soundhouse: Jocelyn Pettit & Ellen Gira + Signy & Emma

An incredible double bill of amazing acoustic music heading your way.

JOCELYN PETTIT & ELLEN GIRA

"Wonderful, captivating... Jocelyn and Ellen have the magical knack of striking a shower of glittering sparks to their whole performance”- FolkWales Magazine

From the West Coast of Canada and the East Coast of the USA, Jocelyn Pettit & Ellen Gira form a dynamic fiddle and cello duo. Fusing traditional and contemporary music styles, they create a powerfully uplifting and soulful performance, weaving a rhythmically driving and textured sound. Complemented by lively stepdancing, they bring life and fire into original tunes, songs, and high- energy repertoire from Scotland, Ireland, North America, and Scandinavia.

Each an accomplished musician in their own right, with extensive performance history and accolades, Jocelyn & Ellen first joined forces in Scotland in 2018. Since then, the duo has been gracing stages and captivating audiences in both North America and the UK. They have been featured in live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, and performed at festivals including Celtic Connections (UK), Niel Gow Festival (UK), Harrison Festival of the Arts (CAN), Sutton Traditional Fiddle Festival (CAN), New World Festival (USA), and Northwest Folklife (USA).

Released in 2022, Jocelyn & Ellen’s new album All It Brings is a 10-track celebration of hope and resilience, with nuanced fiddle-cello interplay, vocal harmonies, and guest guitar accompaniment.

SIGNY & EMMA

Signy Jakobsdottir and Emma Smith have gained recognition as one of Scotland’s most inspiring instrumental duos. Stepping forward from the back line, and pushing percussion and bass into the spotlight, Signy and Emma use percussion, kalimba, double bass and loops to create mesmerising sound worlds, hypnotic beats and meditative melodies that phase in and out of time. This set will include new material as well as some of the duo’s favourites.

A nominee for Folk Instrumentalist of the Year 2019, Signy Jakobsdottir is one of Scotland's most interesting percussionists. Highly in demand, she has performed with Karine Polwart, Sian, Josie Duncan, and the Shee to name a few, and has honed a mesmerising solo sound performing for contemporary dance classes. Her sound is at times light and euphoric, and times driving and powerful.

Double bass player Emma Smith has forged a career as a versatile composer, improviser and collaborator. A Royal College of Music graduate she is a sought after session musician with tours including Gorillaz, Eliza Carthy and Laura Cortese. Keen to explore musical boundaries she founded her own experimental band Kikazaru and established the innovative platform “Bitches Brew” for presenting female improvisers. She has further brought her music to connect with people in extreme circumstances through her work with Musicians Without Borders in El Salvador, Palestine and Northern Ireland.

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The Traverse Theatre is funded by Creative Scotland and The City of Edinburgh Council, and has received additional support from the Scottish Government's Performing Arts Venues Relief Fund and Creative Scotland’s Recovery Fund for Cultural Organisations.

If you have access requirements, please contact our Sales and Welcome Team on boxoffice@traverse.co.uk or 0131 228 1404 so we can arrange reserved seating for you and discuss how else we can best support your visit.