Me

I am Singer, Sitar player, Scientist, Composer and Explorer Dr Shama Rahman.

I am the first Sitar player to perform on the ice in Antarctica where I was invited to be an explorer on an expedition with the first Antarctic Biennale.

I am the first artist-in-residence with the pioneering wearable technology mi.mu gloves.

I take the sitar out of the traditional context, composing and performing across genres including, jazz, psychedelia, live electronica, hip-hop, drum ’n’ bass,  worldbeats, Indian/western classical melodies, folk storytelling and beat poetry.

My poetic songs draw inspiration from my Bangladeshi roots, the childhood desert landscapes of the Middle East, and my later move to the UK, where everything I knew collided with London’s vibrant urban energy and musical characters. My compositions reflect multiculturalism and embody diversity in all its forms.

I play with my electroacoustic band and my sound is nicely described by these folks:

“Imagine Dead Can Dance and Björk getting together in a folk club, to make jazzy trip-hop records… with sitars.” – Songwriting Magazine.

About ‘Let The Light In’:

“Shama Rahman embarks on stage with musicians met during her many trips to give birth to a musical universe without borders. Jazz, electro, folk and psyche come together, illuminated by the soft and bewitching voice of the multilingual artist. We lose our notions of time and styles as the result turns out to be unique and personal. We can venture to speak of “new genre”. Shama clearly has a lot to say, to sing and to show us; we must not miss the passage of the comet which will flood the Molotov room with light” Journal Ventilo

“On her third album, the multi-instrumentalist and singer continues her poetic quest for a universal sound by mixing her Bangladeshi sitar with urban productions, jazz improvisations and folklores from around the world. As in her previous works, the crossing of cultures is the essence of the eight songs that make up the album, the common thread of which is the passage from dark to light . She takes the Sitar out of its traditional context in a brilliant contemporary exploration, rearranges Shundhor mysterious regional folk song from Bangladesh sung in the dialect of the region, evokes the theme of identity, exile, cracks from which illumination sometimes springs.”  FIP Radio 

“In the company of musician friends from all over Europe, Shama Rahman offers us a third studio album which once again leads us to discover multiculturalism, her own path and makes her an artist apart. Far from the beaten track, with this sitar, that we have little opportunity to hear in our latitudes and that it leaves its traditional context, it offers us an intense sensory trip, wonderful exploration of new emotions, sensations from elsewhere. No wonder, then, that we let ourselves so easily, and definitively, be trapped in its light and that we find ourselves following it to the end of its worlds …Multi-instrumentalist singer Shama Rahman is releasing a new album, Let the Light in .  Divertir

‘Let The Light In’ by Shama Rahman, a third luminous album at the crossroads of culture. An opus at the confluence of several cultures that talks about flaws, love and … Brexit. France TV

About ‘Truth BeTold’:

“The triumphant expression of a unique vision and inimitable sound’ Songlines 4* review

”An album by a singer-sitarist who’s also a scientist, neuro‑philosopher and actor, and dons wearable Mi.Mu gloves to trigger sounds by movement, is likely to be acutely cutting-edge. The sonic panorama stretches as far as the listener’s imagination, and then some.‘ Team Rock