Why Ella?

Ella Studio was named in honour of a great writer, Ella Maillart and one of the greatest female jazz singers the world has ever known: Ella Fitzgerald.

Ella Maillart was one of the most amazing female travellers in the world. And explorer for the love of truth, a writer and journalist out of necessity, a photographer by passion and a celebrity for her many sport triumphs, her publications and travels, she crossed the most remote regions on Earth in the most adventurous conditions. In 1930 and 1932 , she discovered, respectively, the Caucauses and Central Asia. In 1935, in China, she conducted extraordinary research in some of the most arid desert zones north of Tibet and in Sinkiang. Later, under the guidance of Hindu sages, she substituted the paths of the world with the paths inside her Self.

Ella Fitzgerald is the greatest female singer of all time. In the course of her career she won every form of musical recognition of her day and recorded more than 120 albums , excluding compilations; and despite her musical stature we could have heard her soulful voice modestly pouring forth on stage at age 70 just as we could have when she was 16. Born in Newport News, Virginia, in 1918, she ran away from home to live on the streets, dancing and singing. At 16 she won first place in a song competition and in the succeeding year she captured the attention of Chick Webb, who introduced her into his band. When Webb died, she took the lead of the band and thus began her amazing career.