Last spring while wandering around with my camera, I stumbled across a crazy looking bunch of brass players with trumpets, saxophones, helicons and a clarinet or two entertaining passersby in Brighton. I stayed and listened for a while, enthralled by their energetic East European gypsy brass.

A couple of months later, while at a one day singing workshop with Polina Sheperd (also known as Polina Skovoroda), a penny dropped as Polina described the brass band she sometimes sang with… Fanfara… the crazy looking bunch I’d seen in Brighton.

Polina, who grow up in Tartarstan, is a vocal virtuoso and I enjoyed every minute of the day we spent learning Jewish and Russian songs. The workshop was fun as well as educational, as Polina gave us many insights into her culture and background with interesting anecdotes. Some of the songs she teaches were nearly lost under the communist’s restrictions but were since rediscovered. Polina told us how her father cried when as a girl she first sang one of these songs to him that he hadn’t heard since his childhood. It was a wonderful day and at the end of the workshop I couldn’t resist buying some albums including the one she had recently released with Fanfara, Civilisation. A wonderful album and Polina’s stunning vocals sit perfectly with Fanfara’s energy and a wonderful sense of fun!

As well as teaching and performing with Fanfara and a number of other bands Polina also runs three choirs: Brighton & Hove Russian Choir, Chutzpah Choirand East European choir at UCL. How does she find the time?