ILĀ

ILĀ* is a multifaceted transgender mixed race artist, producer and creative director.

As co-founder and director of the prolific London Contemporary Voices choir, ILĀ has worked with over 20 Grammy winning artists including Alt-J,  Imogen Heap and U2 as well as two BBC Proms, the Harry Potter Play soundtrack and several iconic fashion shows for designers such as Burberry and Tommy Hilfiger. ILĀ is also a member of the Icelandic band Hrím with Cherif Hashizume and Õsp Eldjārn. In Feb 2022, ILĀ co-founded Trans Voices - the UK's first ever professional trans+ choir, debuting in February 2022 with a specially commissioned music documentary on Guardian Films - featuring in Roundhouse's Beyond and Between season alongside Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show.

Following their acclaimed debut album Mesonoxian, ILĀ featured on legendary Björk/Madonna producer Guy Sigsworth’s debut ‘Stet’ alongside Imogen Heap and Martin Grech. In 2020, their immersive short film Daffodil exploring AI, grief and consciousness was released on NOWNESS. Their current film project MURMUR is a collaboration with Ai-Da, the first ever humanoid robot performance artist with a soundtrack featuring Imogen Heap, Guy Sigsworth, Bishi, Portrait XO and Jake Miller creating music inspired by innovative new AI tools.

In 2021, ILĀ worked with young people from Kent Refugee Action Network to welcome War Horse creators' refugee puppet Little Amal to the UK - garnering wide spread coverage and acclaim in all major UK newspapers. They are also a writer with award-winning Arts and Literature charity Living Words, working with seldom heard voices from young LGBTQIA+ people to those experiencing dementia. 

From soundtracking the European Space Agency’s BEPI Colombo Mercury Mission to embarking on a 3 year research partnership with University of Sheffield about AI Music, ILĀ’s practice combines innovative technology, philosophy and unique forms of sonification centred around breaking artificial binaries and showcasing diverse voices. Recent commissions include soundtracks for Dismantle Me by Max Disgrace (2023) and award winning animated VR film Kindred as well as a water ballet for Loomaland’s Robot Swans (Submerge Festival); Turner Prize nominee Jesse Darling’s MISERERE at St James Piccadilly and collaboration with Sadie Lee at Wallace Collection.

Celebrated as an industry changemaker, ILĀ is a Senator on the Ivor Academy’s Future Sound Experience Council, is a member of Brian Eno’s Earth/Percent Music Committee and a PhD supervisor and research partner (AI & Music) at University of Sheffield. They have performed at the World Economic Forum and TedTalk at the Countdown Summit 2022 alongside vocal artist and creative technologist Reeps One. ILĀ is a Redcliffe Advisory ambassador and has spoken at an intimate Redcliffe dinner along with guests including eminent physicist Sir Peter Knight; QISS (Quantum Information Structure of Spacetime) at Oxford University and the Virtual Colloquium at the Berlin University of the Arts in collaboration with Studio Quantum. Pioneering a new genre ‘Quantum Computer Music’, they recently also began composing using DNA sequencing and the world’s first quantum synth in collaboration with Moth Quantum for presentation at Puzzle X, Barcelona (2023), Silencio, Paris (2024) as well as scoring an experimental AV commission for City Quantum Summit (2023).

*ILĀ was formerly known as Anil Sebastian