SWBMAI’s newest member band is eleike (pronounced el-IKE-a), a dad and daughter duo, playing and singing music from the North Atlantic lands, as well as their own compositions.

Fiddler Eleanor Mayerfeld is a sixth grader at Hamilton Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin.  She has acted and sung in two MadCAP musicals, and can sometimes be seen busking on Madison’s State Street, during the summer months.  She also performs with Suzuki Strings of Madison.  Eleanor was born in Ames, Iowa, and has lived in Dunedin, New Zealand and in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.

Eleanor’s father, Mike Bell, is a composer whose folk tunes have been recorded by many folk artists. An accomplished mandolin and guitar player, Mike is an emeritus member of the Iowa-based Barn Owl Band. He appeared with the Barn Owls on the long-running National Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion in 2002 and in a reprise performance in 2005.

For more information on eleike, check out their web site here.