{"id":37148,"date":"2024-04-14T07:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T01:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/?post_type=story&p=37148"},"modified":"2024-09-24T15:21:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T09:51:02","slug":"indian-american-singer-sheherazaad-releases-mini-album-produced-by-arooj-aftab","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/indian-american-singer-sheherazaad-releases-mini-album-produced-by-arooj-aftab\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian American singer Sheherazaad releases mini album produced by Arooj Aftab"},"content":{"rendered":"

(April 14, 2024)<\/strong> In March 2024, Sheherazaad entered America’s indie music scene as a leading voice for immigrants. Her mini album, Qasr, released under the label Erased Tapes, has been produced by Grammy winner Arooj Aftab, and contains poetic lyrics about marginalised genders and imagined homelands, with folk-pop synthesis and lively instrumentation.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Global Indian from San Francisco, where she is based, Sheherazaad describes her tryst with music as one that found its roots in a \u201cfanatically art-centred, immigrant household\u201d (more on that later). She is an Indo-American artist who is working on de-colonizing music and making a compelling case for the South Asian diaspora through her melodious vocals. Her debut record, Qasr, has been produced by Grammy Award winner Arooj Aftab, and released by Erased Tapes, a London-based independent label for experimental, electronic music.<\/p>\n

\"Sheharazaad

Music matters<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A \u201cfairly introverted and very spiritual person\u201d, Sheherazaad grew up in a very musical household and she was always immersed in the art form. \u201cMy parents are musicians and have a band that still gigs and my sister was a Kathak dancer. My grandmother was a concert producer, so there was music ever present \u2013 both playing but also acoustically. My mom would be doing her riyaaz or my dad would be playing keys or my sister would be like, tapping and doing her Kathak footwork on the hardwood floor, so I was always immersed in music,\u201d she tells Global Indian<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thanks to her South Asian lineage, Sheherazaad grew up listening to Lata Mangeshkar and RD Burman. She began training in Western styles, though, starting with a formal voice education in jazz and the American Songbook<\/em> when she was just six years old. After years of singing Western repertoire, she stopped singing losing interest in the English language. However, in New York, she began following the likes of the Swet Shop Boys and met experimental Pakistani artist Arooj Aftab. She then relocated to California and trained under Hindustani classical vocalist Madhuvanti Bhide. Naturally the synergy she found in her family\u2019s love for music, helped her charter her own path without any resistance that is typically associated with youngsters pursuing music as a career.<\/p>\n

Collaborating with Arooj Aftab<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In March 2024 she released her mini album \u2018Qasr\u2019<\/a> produced by Grammy winner Arooj Aftab where her poetic lyrics about marginalised genders and imagined homelands are given a boost with lively instrumentation. The album showcases contemporary folk-pop synthesis with five tracks and has been released by London-based independent record label Erased Tapes. \u201cWith Arooj, there was a shared acknowledgement, understanding, energetic impulse towards similar things and so much flow and ease with no need to second guess or overthink that it made it very easy,\u201d Sheherazaad says, adding, \u201cShe also played some instruments on the album as well. She has been a mentor in terms of how to move the work through the world and she has been a role model.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Sheherazaad (@sheherazaadofficial)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n