“Bell Lungs” is the moniker of Scottish-Turkish vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and creative facilitator Ceylan Hay.

Taking a freewheeling, magpie attitude to ambient, noise, free improvisation, psychedelia, jazz,  post-rock, minimalism and folk, her music creates subtly shifting sound worlds drawing on natural cycles, environmental disaster and the microcosmic aspects of relationships.  A vaguely obsessive instrument collector, she integrates vocals, strings, keys, tuned percussion and woodwinds into lushly textured layers and loops. However, it is her vocal mastery which is most striking, a resonant instrument acting as a conduit for the emotions, described in reviews as “disarming” and “vaulting”. She loves to tour, and has performed widely across Europe.

Ceylan relishes performing in unusual locations including the top deck of a double decker bus circling the streets of Glasgow, a post-apocalyptic former sugar silo in upstate New York, the oldest Tudor House in Sheffield, a boat cruising along Dover beach, the charred ruins of a nuclear bunker in Edinburgh and inside a hydroelectric power station situated deep within the bowels of Ben Cruachan in Argyll. An interdisciplinary artist with an intuitive gift for sensitive collaboration, she frequently composes for theatre, dance and spoken word.

As of 2025, Ceylan is recording the debut Bell Lungs album, recently funded by Creative Scotland, and beginning to write songs for its follow-up. She is the Lead Artist for Silverburn Park, where she is guiding local young people towards creating soundscapes inspired by the industrial heritage of the local flaxmill, ahead of its 2026 reopening.

She is the Musical Director of “Heebie Jeebies”, a trilingual nature-inspired theatre work for children, performing throughout Edinburgh Fringe 2025 at Institut français d’Ecosse and “Roarie Bumlers”, a Scots language movement and music piece (commissioned by IMAGINATE for Family Encounters at Edinburgh International Children’s Festival 2023), part of the programme for Sound Festival 2025.

Previously, Ceylan composed the soundtrack for the award-winning short film “This Werewolf Complex” by Heather Andrews, contributed to Adam Stafford‘s score for Blockhead (showing at Frightfest 2025), was Musician in Residence for Stranraer’s Unexpected Gardens project in summer 2022, commissioned by BFI’s Curious to create a new live score for Maya Deren’s 1943 cult classic Meshes of the Afternoon, and has been selected to take part in residencies facilitated by the likes of Australian Art Orchestra, Sarah Davachi and Ellen Arkbro. Her music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio Scotland, including the cult programmes Freak Zone, Freeness and Late Junction. Installations and performances have appeared as part of exhibitions All Mortal Greatness is But Disease at Scottish Maritime Museum, and Chimera and Bow Gamelan Ensemble: Great Noises That Fill The Air at Cooper Gallery in Dundee.

Ceylan organised CUTLER SUPPER: 100 Years of Ivor Cutler, a sit-down food, music and art event for 65 people to mark the centenary of Ivor Cutler’s birth, which was held at Galgael in Ibrox, Glasgow on Sunday 15th January 2023. She occasionally programmes experimental music concerts and music-related film screenings in Glasgow and Edinburgh under the name Sonically Depicting, working with artists from as far afield as mainland Europe, Japan, Morocco, India and the USA.

Ceylan has been a member of Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra since 2017, performing alongside them at events including Tectonics, Glasgow Jazz Festival and their annual GIOfests and Gaelic collaborations for Ceòl is Craic at the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow. She is a sometime member of the live bands for Gaze is Ghost, Dominic Waxing Lyrical and Viking Moses, and often guests onstage and on-record for many Scottish acts. She facilitates experimental music-making and creative writing workshops, and is experienced at engaging a wide range of people of all ages and backgrounds. Past and present clients include Sonic Bothy, Good Vibrations, Hear Me Out, Artlink Edinburgh & Lothians, St Cecilia’s Hall of Musical Instruments, Cheyne Gang, Standing Tall Arts, Govan Community Partnership, Canongate Youth, Edinburgh International Science Festival, ASCUS, Cooper Gallery, Art Angel, Ayr Gaiety, Theatre Royal Dumfries, Reeltime Music, Fife Employment Access Trust, and many local authorities including Glasgow City, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian, South Ayrshire, Fife and Aberdeenshire.