Elena Ledda

Who is Elena Ledda?

Elena Ledda is a Sardinian singer.

Born near Cagliari, she pursued conservatory studies in oboe and voice. Ledda has a dramatic soprano voice suitable for opera, which she originally performed as an artist, but was attracted by the folk singing of her native Sardinia and has chosen a career primarily in that genre of music. She worked with the Cooperativa Teatro di Sardegna in the late 1970s. She has toured and recorded widely at the international level.

She was chosen by Sardinia's top movie director, Gianfranco Cabiddu, to be the leading voice for his renowned live music/cinematic mix project, Sonos de Memoria, featuring old film footage of Sardinia from the 1930s and today's leading musicians from the island playing over the film. Sonos has toured the world, with other well-known Sardinian musicians, such as Paolo Fresu.

A more recent development in 2006 was a new project called "Visioni di Sardegna", written and produced by Elena Ledda's longtime collaborator Mauro Palmas, who had old films of Sardinia from the Luce Institute restored and assembled 18 musicians under the direction of RAI TV director, Rodolfo Roberti. Special guest, renowned Greek singer Savina Yannatou, was invited to feature in the project to give it its unique pan-Mediterranean flavour. The project is ongoing in 2007.