HomeMusicEF's Underdogs: The Grime Violinist interview

EF’s Underdogs: The Grime Violinist interview

Tanya Cracknell is The Grime Violinist. Tanya can be found joining grime cyphers, radio sets, raves and recording sessions, collaborating with the biggest names in the industry. She is the only violinist in the world dedicated to grime and her first EP of grime instrumentals was released in September 2018, with an album and sample library to follow next year. I caught up with the artist to talk about her music influences and up coming collaborations. Keep reading for more.

Hi how are you today?

Today is a great day as I’m getting good reviews for the EP I released last week.

Where does this q&a find you?

Hackney Wick, East London.

Could you tell us how you got into music?

My parents are both guitarists so I think I’ve been into music since I was born! Until I was 16 it was all classical, then my friends started influencing me with other genres which expanded my mind.

Your music combines the classical and grime genre, what made you choose this path?

Although I’m classically trained and my instrument is classical what I play definitely isn’t! I love the energy of grime music and think like a producer when writing, complimenting the heavy beats and sampled sounds with catchy string lines.

You’ve collaborated with legends of the scene, could you tell us how those came to be?

I don’t have management or an agent so all collaborations are just from meeting people in the scene on a personal level. I don’t care if the artist is high profile or not, if I rate their music I’ll work with them!

Is there anyone you’d love to work with?

Plenty, and I hope to work with them all! Names include Ghetts, Kano, Stormzy, Lady Leshurr and Lady Lykes.

Could you tell us a bit about your latest EP? How long did it take and who did you work with?

My EP Grime Violinist Instrumentals is aimed at MCs and DJs, combining live violin riffs with heavy grime beats. I worked with a different grime producer on each track to bring variety to the project, including Star.One, Dexplicit, Nutty P, Nat Powers, Outsider, Filthy Gears and Morfius. The tracks are likely to be re-released with feature artists soon.

Look out for the #grimeviolinistchallenge on Instagram!

Sarah Bargiela
Sarah Bargiela
Sarah aka Bargi is the Assistant Editor and Music Editor for Entertainment Focus (EF).

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