Singer with a ukulele, specializing in quirky, original songs (4 albums released as Sweet Soubrette, available on Spotify). I also have a repertoire of covers and a collection of original holiday songs.
If you're interested in any of the following, let me know so I can include in my quote:
Providing mic & PA
Cover requests
Original song commissions
Additional musician (violin or guitar)
Please note that although I am an experienced ukulele player, I don't play Hawaiian-style instrumental music -- I'm really a singer with a uke. :)
"Sweet Soubrette's style comes with a pinch of Regina Spektor quirk and a spoonful of old-timey burlesque.” -Time Out New York
1 review
Erika H. W.
July 10, 2017I hired Ellia to surprise my sister at a birthday picnic and we had an absolutely wonderful experience. First, she was enthusiastic and willing to join in the fun of a surprise music act, and didn't need painstaking instructions on how the evening should go down. More importantly, Ellia was punctual, professional, and performed beautifully at the event — my family was totally blown away. 10/10 would hire again.
Hired as: Ukulele Player
Price range: $100 – $1,000 per event
Languages: English, French
Ellia Bisker is an award-winning songwriter, singer, and musician based in Brooklyn, NY. In 2006 she began performing her songs about doomed love, bad women, works of literature, and existential mysteries as Sweet Soubrette (originally a solo ukulele act, since evolved into an 8-piece indie rock band). Sweet Soubrette has earned comparisons to Amanda Palmer and Regina Spektor and has released four albums to date.
In 2012 she formed macabre musical duo Charming Disaster with songwriter Jeff Morris. Charming Disaster, a collaborative songwriting and performance project, features tragicomic duets about love, death, crime, and the paranormal, and has been featured on the podcast Welcome To Night Vale. Charming Disaster's debut album, "Love, Crime & Other Trouble" was released in 2015, and a second album, "Cautionary Tales," was released in spring 2017.
Ellia is also the lyricist and vocalist for Funkrust Brass Band, a 20-piece brass-punk marching band formed in 2014, and she has been a member of parlor-rock ensemble Kotorino since 2012. She is a longtime participant in the Bushwick Book Club, a literary songwriting and performance series formed in 2009, and she works in various capacities with the neo-vaudevillean performance troupe Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. She has also collaborated to create two music/circus productions: The Flying Machine Factory Circus (with Circus Una) and The Cupcake Show (with Adam Kuchler).
She is a multi-year ASCAP Plus Award recipient in recognition of her songwriting. In 2015 she was awarded a Local Arts Support grant by the Brooklyn Arts Council. In 2016 Charming Disaster's song Right Words to Say, featured in the short film "Mary and Louise," was awarded "Best Ending Music" by the Garden State Film (link hidden) 2016 she was awarded an artist residency by Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology (Bellaire, MI), and was invited back for a second residency in 2017.
Friday
Surprise
5:30pm - 7:30pm
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Brooklyn, NY
Regina Spektor, Amanda Palmer, Jenny Lewis, Nellie McKay
Singer/Songwriter
