Sheherazaad

Sheherazaad creates music about language, femininity and the feeling of not quite belonging anywhere. The American-Indian composer and theatre maker grew up in California, divides her time between India and Brooklyn, and sings mainly in Urdu, supplemented by English and Tamil. On her EP ‘Qasr’, produced by Arooj Aftab, she brought her cinematic folk-noir together for the first time in a world of her own. On her debut album ‘Khudgarzi’, due for release on 20 November, she explores the space between self-sacrifice and self-preservation. The title means ‘selfishness’ and refers to the image of the ‘selfish woman’: someone who prioritises her own freedom over the expectations of others. The ten tracks were written following a broken engagement and navigate through anger, guilt, grief and the possibility of a fresh start. Musically, Sheherazaad works with instruments from Hindustani, Turkish, Arabic and Carnatic traditions, including the tanbur, santoor, veena and rabab. She combines these with ambient sounds, silence and dark pop. The first single, ‘Andher’, immediately sets the tone: a grand, almost gothic declaration of love to darkness.