Biography

Elspeth is a graduate of Wesleyan University with a degree in Music. Although her interest in African roots music probably began in childhood with an obsession for Scott Joplin’s rags, she was primarily a classical singer when she had her first significant encounter with Cuban music. The rhythmic counterpoint and call-and-response between the akpwon (lead singer) and ankori (chorus) were exciting and powerful, and in the ensuing weeks Elspeth put her classical voice training aside in order to focus on congas, Cuban dance, folkloric Cuban song, and Spanish language. “Concentrating most of my early efforts on drumming was a good decision,” Elspeth explains. “Nothing could have better informed my singing in this style.  Rebeca Mauleón said, regarding Cuban musicians, ‘we are all drummers’”.

Elspeth has been singing for and directing Orchestra Zarabanda (formerly Yerbabuena), a 12-piece Cuban charanga band, for the better part of a decade.  Zarabanda has been her primary training ground, providing hundreds of performances and two major recording projects, although she has sung for a variety of other ensembles along the way. Not surprisingly, Elspeth’s upcoming release features many members of Orchestra Zarabanda, as well as special guests Jovino Santos Neto, Marco de Carvalho and Anthony Blea, with whom Elspeth is honored to have had the opportunity to record.

Given her unique position in the Northwest as a Cuban-style singer with extensive classical training, Elspeth has in recent years become a go-to person for solo work in a variety of Spanish-language and folkloric Cuban choral projects. She particularly enjoyed performing the passionate and highly rhythmic alto solos in the epic work, Canto General (poetry by Pablo Neruda, composed by Mikis Theodorakis), in 2005 with the Seattle Peace Chorus. “The poetry is so evocative. The experience of singing this work was electrifying and at the same time a big responsibility. There were so many Chileans in the audience for whom Neruda’s work is personally and historically important.

Despite the hurdles of learning a second language as an adult, and shifting from classical music to a tradition where rhythm and improvisation are paramount, Elspeth has rarely felt out of place. To the contrary, Cuban music has been a great gift in her life.  “When you are singing, dancing and playing the clave rhythm, and it’s all locking together, it’s what I imagine advanced yogis must experience -pure joy.”