ARTIST
Christella Litras

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Christella Litras

Christella Litras is a musical director, composer, lyricist, vocalist, keyboard player, percussionist, workshop facilitator and musical mentor with a 20-year track record, which was recognised in 2013 with a Runner's Up award on The Arts Foundation Fellowship Programme. Christella has worked across popular musical genres nationally and internationally, supporting and performing with luminaries including Martha Reeves, Jamiroquai, Peabo Bryson, Billy Paul, Candi Staton, Denise Pearson, Sting, Ricardo Ajorna, Glen Scott, Brenda Holloway, Kofi, Beverley Knight, Kim Weston, Eric Bibb, Tom Jones and many more.

As a Greek Cypriot, she was immersed early on in Rembetika, a highly vocalised form of music, in which singing in harmony is a defining feature. Her ability to harmonise led her to Geraldine Connor's Carnival Messiah, as a performer, member of the vocalist selection panel and one of only 3 cast members to represent Carnival Messiah in Trinidad. She has worked regularly with one of Trinidad's most respected and prolific singer-songwriters, Ella Andall, as a singer, vocal arranger, producer, musician and composer. During this process she also worked closely with Ella's Producer Kenny Phillips, founder of KMP Records and WACK Radio in Trinidad and Tobago.  

In 2004 Christella joined Ella Andall's trans-Caribbean tour performing for Nelson Mandela. She then went on to form Caution Collective in 2007, comprising of accomplished musicians and singers based in and around Chapeltown and Harehills in Leeds.

In 2017 Christella composed and arranged music to accompany a performance of two poems by Queen's Gold Medal winner, Imtiaz Dharker, commissioned by Alchemy and SAA-uk for the evocative musical production Sacred Sounds: Sikh Music Traditions and the First World War. She has also worked with world renowned choreographer, Sharon Watson, and composed the soundtrack for Phoenix Dance Theatre's multi-award-winning performance and film Windrush (BBC).

In 2019 she was chosen by choir director Glen Scott to join an elite group of vocalists to sing on the Sting and Kate Prince- West End production of Message in a Bottle at Kensal town Studios-This opportunity led her to sing backing vocals for Latin America's most successful artist of all time, Ricardo Ajorna. Christella was also invited to feature on his Abbey Road Studio acoustic live recording.

In 2023, Christella was commissioned by Leeds 2023 to remix a version of the Kaiser Chiefs hit Predict a Riot in a Soca style that was used for the opening ceremony at Headingley Stadium. 

In celebration of her enormous contributions to Leeds, Christella was one of 400 inspirational women of the city who were honoured in new sculpture Ribbons by Pippa Hale, unveiled in October 2024.

ENQUIRIES

To book Christella Litras please email us at info@saa-uk.org

KNOWLEDGE CENTRE

Ragamala paintings

A series of illustrative paintings from medieval India based on Ragamala or the ‘Garland of Ragas', depicting various Indian musical modes, Ragas

Surdas

A 15th-century poet-saint, musician and devotee of Krishna

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ARTISTChristella Litras