Shama Sarwat Rahman () is a British singer-songwriter,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

ist, storyteller, performance artist, filmmaker and actor.

Early life

Rahman was born in

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

to Bangladeshi parents, a medical doctor and classical singer. She has lived on three different continents and trained under the tutelage lineage of Pt

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

of the Maihar gharana.

Education

Rahman studied

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. She completed a PhD in joint partnership at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, Goldsmiths and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

in the cross-disciplinary field of

Complexity Science A complex system is a system composed of many components that may interact with one another. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication sy ...

complexity mathematical tools taken from statistical and chaos theory physics. to study the Neuroscientific Systems of Musical Creativity. This PhD spans musicology, psychology, philosophy, and the physics of emergent behaviour illustrating how the whole system works together.

Music career

Rahman's original band members have included Peter Edwards (piano or clarinet) who also recorded on the album '' Fable:Time'', Domenico Angarano (bass or kaos pad), William Pearce Smith (violin), Christopher Lane (guitar) and Felix Higginbottom (percussion or drumkit), Nicolas Rouger (saxophone), Andres Castellanos (bass) and Oberon King (percussion or drumkit). She writes and arranges all music and lyrics from her poems. Rahman and her band weaves sitar, urban folk, stories and song together. Together with her band she mingles storytelling, metaphysics and poetry into their music and creates multi-layered harmonies and energy-driven lyrical rhythms with international influences evoking genres from punk to folk, classical to jazz, swing to bossa nova, spoken word to dubstep and drum and bass to create their own unique urban jazz folk genre. Rahman has performed as a solo artist and with her band and various guest artists in Bangladesh, England, Ireland, France, Germany and Bangladesh. She has performed at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

, headlined the Modern Mela in 2011's Alchemy Festival, and the 2014 London Jazz Festival. Major festivals include The

Secret Garden Party The Secret Garden Party, often colloquially shortened to the SGP, is an independent music festival, arts and music festival held in Abbots Ripton, England. The location is on part of the grounds of a Georgian farmhouse and has its own lakes, river ...

, SilFest, SpitalFields Festival, featured on

Womad WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...

radio, Supersonix festival (supporting Seth Lakeman and Ska Cubano), Wilderness, One Love Festival, special commission for Eastern Electronic Festival, Un-Convention and Fête de la Musique. She played live in the studio at BBC London 94.9 on the ''Sunny and Shay Show''. Her solo performances include India festival in Belfast, opening for ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1986 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. T ...

'' musical at the

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...

, ''NYE'' at The Troubadour. She has been commissioned by MOJO for a re-interpretation of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

song "

Eleanor Rigby "Eleanor Rigby" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. It was also issued on a double A-side single, paired with " Yellow Submarine". Credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, the s ...

" using her own unique jazz-sitar style featuring pianist Peter Edwards. Her solo performances encompass classical sitar (India festival, Belfast), storytelling with the sitar (SHUNT, V&A Museum of Childhood, Tales in the Tower) and her solo project involving 'looped' sitar electric soundscapes where she unconventionally bows it and creates percussion. In 2014, she toured with in Place of War (IPOW) artists from UK, India, Congo, Zimbabwe and Kenya – Nucleya, OCTOPIZZO, Louis Barabbas, Alesh Officiel – which culminated in four performances at Shambala Festival with Sandie Shaw. She has featured on Asian Dub Foundation's album ''Signal and the Noise'', producers Chemo's LP ''In The Evening'' and State of Bengal. She has also had numerous collaborations with musicians from all over the world, notably with Asian Dub Foundation, State of Bengal, the London Sitar Ensemble at Southbank, London Bulgarian Choir and the

Doves Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

at the

BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms (formerly the BBC Electric Proms) was an October pop music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006–2010. On 31 January 2011, the BBC announced that the event would be discontinued with immediate ...

in the Roundhouse, sitarist/vocalist with Orchestra Elastique on Berlin tour, SHUNT, Salisbury Arts Festival and

LIFT Lift or LIFT may refer to: Physical devices * Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods ** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop ** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...

, television appearance as sitarist/vocalist with Bangladeshi musician James and recorded with musicians from Bengal, including producer Buno from revolutionary band Bangla. While at university, Rahman was the head of marketing for Europe's largest internet radio station. She ran music events combining unknown talent with known names. In 2009, after a break of a few years, she resumed this as artistic director and producer of "The Gung Ho Down", which is a showcase platform for performing arts from all genres and disciplines, artist-led collaborations and promotes artists. In June 2013, Rahman's debut album '' Fable:Time'' was released. Each song on the album unveils a chapter in an overall story about how time affects us – its illusions, deceptions and myths. The album mimics the non-linearity of time and is on a circular track listing. From this, she has visualised one overall narrative by creating a series of eight videos which are all episodes in a series. Some of her spoken-word pieces are featured in this album and has led her to perform at the DSC Literary Festival and Hackney Word Festival. As a music composer for stage and screen her credits include: UK theatre production ''Harlesden High Street'', the BBC drama series ''Bishaash'', BritDoc ''Mass E Bhat'' and Bengali film ''Runaway''. Shama Rahman In October 2013, Rahman was interviewed by Nadia Ali on

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...

Television career

From 2010 to 2011, Rahman played the lead role of Zara Rahman in a 24-part bilingual BBC Janala supernatural drama series '' Bishaash''. It was the first ever serial drama shot between Bangladesh and London, England, south Asia's first ever supernatural detective series and was broadcast on Zee Café and

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

. Rahman has appeared as presenter in China, Bulgaria and for artist Oliver Guy for a

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

project on Doubt.

Discography

Albums

Filmography

Television

Stage

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahman, Shama 1983 births Living people British Muslims British Sufis Bangladeshi emigrants to England British women singer-songwriters Bengali-language singers British storytellers Women storytellers Sitar players British actresses British television actresses Musicians from London Singers from London People from Al Ain Bangladeshi expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Alumni of University College London Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of Imperial College London 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers Actresses from London