Shama Sarwat Rahman ( bn, শামা সরয়াত রহমান) 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 medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

ist, storyteller, performance artist, filmmaker and actor.

Early life

Rahman was born in

Al Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tawam (region), Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al-Ain Region, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

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 sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

of the

Maihar gharana The Maihar Gharana or Maihar-Senia Gharana is a gharana or school of Hindustani classical music, a style of Indian classical music originating in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. The school was formed by Allaudin Khan in the prin ...

Education

Rahman studied

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. She completed a PhD in joint partnership at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

Goldsmiths A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold. In German, the Goldsmith family name is written Goldschmidt. Goldsmith may also refer to: Places * Goldsmith, Indiana, United States * Goldsmith, New York, United States, a ha ...

and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

in the cross-disciplinary field of

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

complexity mathematical tools taken from statistical and chaos theory physics. to study the

Neuroscientific Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developmen ...

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. 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 Grade I l ...

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

, headlined the Modern Mela in 2011's Alchemy Festival, and the 2014

London Jazz Festival The London Jazz Festival is a music festival held every November. It takes place in London venues such as the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall and in smaller jazz clubs, such as Ronnie Scott's and the Vortex Jazz Club. It is produced by Seri ...

. Major festivals include The

Secret Garden Party The Secret Garden Party, often colloquially shortened to the SGP, is an independent arts and music festival which takes place in Abbots Ripton near Huntingdon in England. This location is on part of the grounds of a Georgian farmhouse and has its ...

, SilFest,

SpitalFields Festival Spitalfields Music (previously known as Spitalfields Festival, officially registered as Spitalfields Festival Ltd) is a music charity based in the Bethnal Green area of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Through musical events, the charity hop ...

, 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, ...

radio, Supersonix festival (supporting

Seth Lakeman Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. Ac ...

and

Ska Cubano Ska Cubano is a London-based group which combines ska and Cuban music such as son and mambo, with elements of other genres including cumbia and calypso. History The group was put together by investment manager Peter A. Scott, who in his own word ...

), Wilderness, One Love Festival, special commission for Eastern Electronic Festival, Un-Convention and

Fête de la Musique The Fête de la Musique, also known in English as Music Day, Make Music Day or World Music Day, is an annual music celebration that takes place on 21 June. On Music Day, citizens and residents are urged to play music outside in their neighborho ...

. She played live in the studio at

BBC London 94.9 BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the Lond ...

on the ''Sunny and Shay Show''. Her solo performances include India festival in Belfast, opening for ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story ...

'' musical at the

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

, ''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, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

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". The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to L ...

" 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 The Shambala Festival is a four-day music festival that takes place in Northamptonshire, England, since 2000. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts rock, pop, folk, world music, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists hav ...

with

Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist * Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player * Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer * Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (1879 ...

. She has featured on

Asian Dub Foundation Asian Dub Foundation (ADF) is an English electronic music band that combines musical styles including rap rock, dub, dancehall, ragga, and South Asian music. The group also includes traditional rock instruments such as electric bass and gui ...

's album ''Signal and the Noise'', producers Chemo's LP ''In The Evening'' and

State of Bengal Saifullah "Sam" Zaman (17 April 1965 – 19 May 2015), known by the stage name State of Bengal, was a British DJ and music producer of Bangladeshi descent associated with the UK and Asian Underground movement. Early life Zaman was born on 1 ...

. 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 The London Bulgarian Choir (LBC) is a London-based amateur choir specialising in Bulgarian folk music. Dessislava Stefanova has led the choir since its formation in 2000. Primarily a performing choir, the LBC perform around twenty concerts a ...

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 short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

at the

BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms (formerly the BBC Electric Proms) was an October 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 effe ...

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 James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and recorded with musicians from Bengal, including producer Buno from revolutionary band

Bangla Bangla (Bengali: বাংলা) may refer to: *Bengali language, an eastern Indo-Aryan language *The endonym of Bengal, a geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia *''Bangla-'', a prefix indicating Bangladesh Businesses and organ ...

. 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.

Television career

From 2010 to 2011, Rahman played the lead role of Zara Rahman in a 24-part bilingual

BBC Janala BBC Janala ( bn, বিবিসি জানালা; en, BBC Window) is an English–instruction programme for the people of Bangladesh. It launched in November 2009 and is a multi-platform project of UKAID. The Janala includes mobile subscri ...

supernatural drama series ''

Bishaash ''Bishaash'' ( bn, বিশ্বাস; ''Belief'') is a Bangladeshi supernatural television series produced by BBC World Service Trust which was first broadcast on Bangladesh Television from 16 October 2010 until 18 March 2011. The series s ...

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