Sahara were delighted to be asked to be featured recently in Your London Wedding magazine.

The interview featured our saxophonist where Your London Wedding Magazine got a little insight into our daily lives as a musician. It is always a pleasure to perform for people’s weddings and to be able to share it with Your London Wedding Magazine was a delight.

The interview was featured in the ‘Meet The Entertainers’ special for their May/June issue. For more about Sahara and getting to know us and what we do please see our about us section.

London Wedding Magazine

Sarah talks about her favourite area of London, the South Bank and seeing a show recently at the National Theatre. Sarah also discussed her favourite London wedding venues.

The girls are constantly busy rehearsing, performing and travelling but they like to enjoy themselves in their precious time off and top of the list is seeing a show on the South Bank or in the West End.

The interview took place during an exceptionally busy week for the girls so this time it was just a snapshot. Its a great insight into the lives of these girls and especially Sarah who is always performing up and down the country for various weddings and events. Watch this space for more in-depth features coming in the future.

Check our Sahara’s videos to see the girls perform.

Hire Sahara For Your London Wedding

Sahara are always highly in demand but if you would be interested in hiring them for your event do not fear slots do open up and the girls love nothing more than performing at weddings.

Add some extra glitz and glamour to your special day by inviting Sahara to join your special event! They can tailor their set to your requirements which means you can have a beautiful bespoke musical experience to wow your guests.

For more details on how to hire contact hello@saharamusic.co.uk

The Electric Violin

Have you ever wondered how or when the electric violin was invented? The history of the electric violin is a somewhat fascinating, yet grey area, with musicians and inventors creating their own versions throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Whilst there is no illustration of the first ever concept, it’s reported that Elisha Gray, the inventor of the ‘musical telegraph’ stumbled upon the idea in 1874 – perhaps during his experiments and perfection of the musical telegraph.

Decades later, in 1920, the jazz and blues player Stuff Smith took to the stage with the first electric violin. Stuff Smith was a well known violinist and is now regarded as ‘one of the three great swing violinists of the early 20th century’, but struggled to be heard over the other performing musicians. After much experimentation with various amplifiers and pick ups, he took to using a National Dobro Vio-Lectric.

Following this, the 1930s and 1940s saw several companies beginning to produce their own versions, including Electro Stringed Instrument Corporation, National String Instrument Corporation and Vega Company. Yet musicians, such as jazz player Joe Venuti, continued to experiment with attaching microphones and amps to their violins, most commonly, a DeArmond.

The History of The Electric Violin in Rock Music

Towards the late 50s, Fender began producing limited lines of the electric instrument and continued to do so, on and off up until the 1980s, when other companies had perfected their own. The history of the electric violin becomes even more interesting from the 1990s onwards, when the instrument enjoyed much more commercial success and became increasingly popular with music genres such as rock, thanks largely due to Frank Zappa and his notable album, Hot Rats.

Today, the history of the electric violin has led to the instrument being used across all genres, from hip-hop, jazz, country, and even new age.

Hiring a Electric String Quartet

In the past two decades, electric violinists and electric string quartets have risen hugely in popularity, with musicians such as Vanessa Mae, Sahara and Bond breaking genre boundaries and appealing to new audiences. Electric string quartets make for captivating live performances and are the ideal solution to hiring a music band for your wedding, birthday or corporate event.

If you’re interested in hiring an electric string quartet or an electric violinist, have a look at our tips on how to book music for your event or visit music agency Musicians Inc to book directly.