Elena Ledda (born 17 May 1959 in

Selargius Selargius, Ceràrgius or Ceraxius in Sardinian, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari. It has 28,323 inhabitants as of 2025. The village exists sin ...

) is an Italian singer from

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Early life

Born near

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, Ledda pursued conservatory studies in

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

and voice.

Career

Her

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

voice was suitable for opera, which she performed early in her career, but she was attracted by the folk singing of her native Sardinia and eventually recorded primarily in that genre. She worked with Cooperativa Teatro di Sardegna in the late 1970s and has toured and recorded internationally. She was chosen by Sardinian movie director, Gianfranco Cabiddu, to be the leading voice for his live music/cinematic mix project, ''Sonos de Memoria'', featuring film footage of

from the 1930s and leading contemporary Sardinian musicians playing over the film. Sonos toured the world with other Sardinian musicians such as

Paolo Fresu Paolo Fresu (; born 10 February 1961) is an Italian jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player, as well as a composer and arranger of music. His unique trumpet sound is recognized as one of the most distinctive in the contemporary jazz scene. Fresu pla ...

. In 2006, Ledda participated in ''Visioni di Sardegna'', written and produced by her longtime collaborator Mauro Palmas, who restored film footage of Sardinia from the Luce Institute, and assembled 18 musicians under the direction of

RAI TV (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

director, Rodolfo Roberti. Greek singer

Savina Yannatou Savina Yannatou (, ''Savína Yannátou''; born 16 March 1959) is a Greek singer. Biography After taking classical guitar lessons and participating in the children's choir of Yannis Nousias for some years, she studied singing with Gogo Georgil ...

was invited to feature in the project. Her collaboration with

resulted in a series of ten concerts at the Half Note club in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

at the end of March 2006. This met with critical acclaim and TV interest in Greece, and resulted in a CD (''Tutti Baci'', Lyra 1095) also featuring Mauro Palmas and Primavera en Salonico. Ledda's collaborators have included

Lester Bowie Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Biography Born in th ...

, Israeli singer Noa,

Maria del Mar Bonet Maria del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer (Balearic Catalan: ; born 1947 in Palma de Mallorca) is a Spanish singer from the island of Majorca. Early life and career Bonet studied ceramics in the school of arts, but eventually decided to dedicate herself ...

(Mallorca),

Andreas Vollenweider Andreas Vollenweider (born 4 October 1953) is a Swiss harpist. He is generally categorised as a new-age musician and uses a modified electroacoustic harp of his own design. He has worked with Bobby McFerrin, Carly Simon, Luciano Pavarotti and i ...

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. He played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins. After concluding a playing career in the A ...

, and

Nana Vasconcelos Nana, Na Na or NANA may refer to: People * Nana (given name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Nana (surname), including a list of people and characters with the surname * Nana (chief) (died 1896), Mimbreño A ...

. In 2005 Elena collaborated with Neapolitan violinist, Lino Cannavacciuolo (

Peppe Barra Giuseppe "Peppe" Barra (born 24 July 1944) is an Italian folk singer, actor, playwright and composer. Life and career Born in Rome into a family of Procidan actors, when he was only 6 Barra enrolled in an acting school for children, Teatrino di ...

's violinist and original founder of the Solis String Quartet, now Noa's band of choice) to produce her CD ''Amargura''. The BBC's

Andy Kershaw Andrew J. G. Kershaw (born 9 November 1959) is an English broadcaster and disc jockey, predominantly on radio, and known for his interest in world music. Kershaw's shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, African music, spoken ...

said of Ledda, "I planned a trip south to make a program about Sardinian music, almost solely on the evidence of a CD I was given of Elena's voice. We went to Sardinia and I was blown away. Elena and her band make traditional music from Sardinia using all the mainstream instruments, with hardly any 'traditional Sardinian' instruments in sight, yet it sounds so traditional and so not-mainstream. They have achieved a truly unique and refreshing sound. Clearly rooted to Sardinian tradition, yet so modern." A 2007 recording was done with Andrea Parodi, who died before completing the work. Ledda sang at Parodi's funeral.

Discography

* ''Ammentos'' (1979) * ''Is Arrosas'' (1984) * ''Sonos'' (1989) * ''Incanti'' (1993) * ''Maremannu'' (2000) * ''Amargura'' (2005) * ''Lantias'' (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledda, Elena People from the Metropolitan City of Cagliari Italian women singers Music in Sardinia Living people 1959 births Sardinian women