New Release
New single - out 6 May
“Ellie Wilson’s Listen to the River Ching gives voice to this magickal watercourse, featuring field recordings, composition and readings the Ching speaks to us through Ellie’s enchanting creation. Such a beautiful tribute to this essential capillary of London”
Listen to the River Ching is a project taking place at Brookfield Path in Highams Park E4, funded by a ‘Make It Happen’ grant from London Borough of Waltham Forest.
This new music composition grew from a series of workshops led by composer Ellie Wilson for pupils with vision impairment at Joseph Clarke School. They visited the River Ching to explore the landscape through sound and collaborative listening. Together, they captured a sonic portrait of the environment using hydrophones and microphones.
The resulting composition combines percussion and whispered voices (water spirits) captured in the classroom with field recordings of the riverbank and its underwater world. This is combined with violin, synthesiser, piano, percussion and sound design for an immersive experience, evoking the flow of the river as it meanders through Epping Forest and slips quietly past back gardens, playing fields and allotments.
A reading from Henry Hawkins’ 1895 book Epping Forest – London’s Great Legacy (from a copy that belonged to Ellie’s great-grandfather) is incorporated into the piece, connecting past and present through place, memory and listening.
Ellie Wilson composer, violin, hardanger fiddle, voice, sound design
Pupils from Joseph Clarke School whispered voices, shakers
Thom Ashworth mix, master, sound design
Ryan Pearce cover image and video
A walk along the River Ching
I joined writer and filmmaker John Rogers for a walk along the River Ching.
The source of the River Ching comes out of the lake at Connaught Water.
Last weekend I joined John Rogers on a walk along the River Ching - a small, meandering river that starts at Connaught Water in Epping Forest and joins the River Lea near the North Circular, north of Banbury Reservoir. The Ching has always been a part of my life. My family home in Highams Park is close by, and my walk to Primary School (Oakhill) often involved paddling in it or playing pooh sticks on the bridge at Brookfield path.
There were familiar sights and a few surprises on the 3-hour walk. Below are some photos - with thanks to Liz Daly from Waltham Forest London Borough of Culture for a few of these!
Check out John’s website, especially his excellent YouTube videos exploring areas of London.
Artist-In-Residence Epping Forest
I’ve been invited by City of London Epping Forest to be its Artist in Residence in 2019.
If you follow me on Instagram you may have recently noticed an influx of photos of trees, mushrooms and ponds. I am excited to announce that I’ve been invited by City of London Epping Forest to be Artist in Residence in 2019 - a whole year let loose in the forest to explore nature, local history and sound.
Having lived near the forest all my life, I'm in my element researching how people have shaped Epping Forest throughout the centuries: you can find Iron Age camps, medieval roads, a Tudor hunting lodge, an C18th grotto, pollarded trees, ponds created by WWII bombs, and maybe even Dick Turpin’s hideout!
Although most of my reading is online, it’s lovely to have some books to dip into. Some of the older ones I own belonged to my Great Grandfather, who lived on Smarts Lane in Loughton. I’ll shed some light on my family connections to the history of the forest in another blog.
Over the coming months I will be writing music inspired by the stories and the places I visit in the forest. If you want to follow my progress, please sign up to my newsletter and follow me on Instagram I Facebook I Twitter.
Forest Focus Magazine announces my residency on pages 5 and 13.
My project will be linked to Waltham Forest’s year as London Borough of Culture 2019, a Mayor of London initiative, and will integrate with an exciting new project called ‘The People’s Forest’ which is being curated by Luke Turner and Kirsteen McNish.
Want to visit Epping Forest? The London Overground connects London Liverpool Street to Epping Forest at Chingford and the Central Line offers access points to the forest from Leytonstone through to Epping.