Sheema Mukherjee is a British composer and

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 ...

player. She is best known for her work with musical collective

Transglobal Underground Transglobal Underground (sometimes written as Trans-Global Underground) is an English electro-world music group, specializing in a fusion of Western culture#Music, western, Music of Asia, Asian and Music of Africa, African music styles (someti ...

and

The Imagined Village The Imagined Village is a folk music project founded by Simon Emmerson of Afro Celt Sound System. A reflection of modern United Kingdom multiculturalism, the music collective syncretizes diverse musical traditions while featuring musicians ...

. She is the niece of sitarist

Nikhil Banerjee Pandit Nikhil Ranjan Banerjee (14 October 1931 – 27 January 1986) was an Indian classical sitarist of the Maihar Gharana. Along with Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan, he emerged as one of the leading exponents of the sitar. ...

. In 2005, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' referred to her as a "sitar prodigy". Mukherjee studied

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...

under her uncle Nikhil Banerjee,

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was an Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, ...

and later

Aashish Khan Aashish Khan (5 December 1939 – 14 November 2024) was an Indian Indian classical music, classical musician and player of the sarod. He was also nominated for a Grammy Award in 2006 in the 'Best Traditional World Music Album' category for his ...

. In 1998 she joined Transglobal Underground. In 2005, she composed the music for the

West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds Playhouse is a theatre in the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1990 in the Quarry Hill area of the city as the West Yorkshire Playhouse, successor to the original Leeds Playhouse, and was rebranded in June 2018 ...

productions ''Gluey and the Lion'' and ''Non-Contact Time''. She also composed the score for the Tamasha Theatre Company's 2009 musical ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...

''. Her composition "Bending the Dark" was featured during the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Her first solo debut album, ''Sheema'' was released on 28 August 2014 by the independent vinyl label ECC100 Records and was well received.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherjee, Sheema Living people Sitar players British composers British people of Bengali descent British musical theatre composers Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Transglobal Underground members