Composers’ Fund Grantee: The Venus Bushfires

‘Sounds of Us UK : British Stories From African Perspectives’

“I pressed record, therefore I am”

“Thanks to The Composers’ Fund, I’ve got the opportunity to bring a brave and slightly bonkers idea to life in capturing British stories from trending topics on Twitter (UK), told from a Nigerian perspective expressed through indigenous, African and Western classical instruments.”

The Venus Bushfires (Helen Epega) is a Nigerian-British composer exploring the ethereal sounds of the ‘hang’, the power of the talking drum and the quirks of children’s toys cross-fertilising multiple visual and musical styles (Cinematic-Afrobeat).

Inspired by Fela Kuti and Kate Bush, she creates music that flirts with the sensual and the spiritual.

Helen has created music for Christian Dior, Sony Play Station and Disney and has been featured on BBC, CNN, The Guardian and Reuters.

She composed the world’s first pidgin (broken English) opera ‘Song Queen: A Pidgin Opera’ which debuted in London in 2015 and continues to be performed in Lagos, Cape Town and London.

In 2021 Helen composed ‘Sounds of Us – A Sound Art Snapshot: Life, Love, Fear, Hope & Protest In The time Of Pandemic Lockdown’.