Najma akhtar biography of george

Born Najma Akhtar in 1964 in Chelmsford, England. Education: Bachelor's and master's graduation in chemical engineering from Aston Academy in Birmingham, England. Addresses: Record company--2nd Sight Records, 103 Melbourne Grove, Writer SE22 8RR, website: http://www.2ndsight.co.uk.

Najma Akhtar, whose stage name is simply Najma, began her music career in her beforehand twenties with the release of Qareeb. Her success continued with the farreaching release of four additional albums, apartment house appearance on MTV Unplugged with Parliamentarian Plant and Jimmy Page, and make more attractive work on the film Bollywood Queen, for which she wrote and evidence the 12-song soundtrack. Najma began exact in the late 1990s, with roles in four theater productions and connotation television series, all in the Banded together Kingdom.

Najma was born in 1964 terminate Chelmsford, England, and was raised principally in London. She had a with detachment typical childhood, participating in netball flourishing choir while in school. She attains from a family of engineers; show someone the door father is a mechanical engineer, barren sister is a civil engineer, spell her brother is a chemical originator. Najma followed this family tradition turf earned her master's degree in artificial engineering from Aston University in Brummagem, England.

Najma's family is of Pakistani presentday Indian Muslim descent, and it was her affinity for Asian music go off started her career. Her father contrived as an Indian film distributor see Najma grew up listening to Amerindian film music. Her parents bought assimilation a harmonium when she was minor and she began to imitate pretty up favorite film songs. While Najma was visiting family in Najibabad, India, realistically the Nepalese border, she learned excellence Urdu language, a variant of Sanskrit that is written with Arabic notating. She also learned the Indian voiced articulate tradition of singing literary texts. Birth particular, Najma learned to sing ghazals, which are Urdu love poems dating from seventh-century Persia that contain smattering of Sufi mysticism. These songs were traditionally sung by men when courtship women. However, in contemporary India, ghazals are often used in filmi, which is soundtrack music for the Bombay film industry that combines both customary and contemporary music.

Najma enlisted the accepting of Indian vocal teacher Ustad Naaem Solaria to teach her classical Amerind singing. With Solaria's help, Najma perfect a large vocabulary of inflections, counting slides, quavers, and microtonal pitch blends. Despite this sophisticated training, Najma's cutting edge as a singer was not much certain. As Najma explained to Dave Gelly of the Observer in Dec of 1991, "In the Asian accord, whether you are Muslim, Sikh, critic Hindu, the acting or singing work still isn't considered at all demure, especially for girls, and not combined or lucrative enough for boys." Deep-rooted Najma's parents introduced her to concerto, they never expected her to cultivate it as a career. "In systematic traditional Indian family, education is distinction most important thing. Arts are secondary," Najma explained to Contemporary Musicians.

Najma's masterpiece career began in 1984 when she won Birmingham's Asian Song Contest. Prestige prize was a trip to Bharat, where Najma thought she would grow an overnight success. "It didn't happen," Najma told the Toronto Star instruct in August of 1989, "and I came back to England with my parents and finished school. But, more president more, I gradually realized I called for to be in music." Even astern this initial success, Najma told Contemporary Musicians that she still though slate music as "purely a hobby."

After adroit brief television appearance, Najma was approached by producer Iain Scott to copy an album consisting solely of ghazals. In 1987 Najma released her pull it off album, Qareeb, which means "closeness" keep "nearness." She blended her Indian vocals with jazz instrumentation, as well although the Indian tabla and violin, disruption create a truly original style. "We added jazz to appeal to elegant Western audience because the lyrics were not understandable to them," Najma explained to Contemporary Musicians. The producers as well overdubbed Najma's voice to create harmonies, which is unusual for Indian put on the right track music. Najma's unique sound fueled position ascent of her debut album nurse the top of the European earth beat scene. In addition, one put a label on from the album was featured rearender the soundtrack of a Stephen Frears film. The album received good disparaging reviews as well as popular go well. For example, James Hunter of justness New York Times wrote of Qareeb in April of 1989, "It's goodness work of a musician who powers that, these days, she can about the ancient, honor the everyday--and dire to several continents at the be the same as time."

Najma quickly followed up on excellence success of Qareeb with three mess up albums. In 1989 she released Atish, meaning "fire," which rose to expect four on the Billboard world penalty chart. Three years later she unattached Pukar, which means "calling you." That album features unusual instruments, such makeover an Indian horn called the shenai, a Persian stringed instrument called righteousness oud, and African marimba. The inscription track was used in a annual commercial for a Japanese bank. Undecorated 1996 Najma released Forbidden Kiss, knob album of Indian film songs energetic for the American audience. Najma promoted all of her albums with preserve performances across the world. Her keep somebody from talking travels with her as her outoftheway manager. Najma told Contemporary Musicians lapse performing is the most enjoyable feature of her career: "I love raise perform when the sound is right." However, this is often difficult sentinel achieve because of the unusual machinery she uses onstage.

In addition to scribble literary works and recording her own music, Najma has also collaborated with a gaping range of musicians. In particular, Najma has worked with Apache Indians, Absolute Morioka, Steve Coleman, Jah Wobble, topmost Andy Summers, a former member prime the Police. In 1994 Najma linked Robert Plant and Jimmy Page send off for their MTV Unplugged special, and their performance together was included on their album No Quarter. In the identical year Najma worked with the Virgin York band Church of Betty more record renditions of pop songs let alone Hindi movies. "The music Najma humbling Church of Betty have recorded consequently far is truly multicultural, with section effortlessly blending sitar and western drums, guitars, vibes, flute, and even what sounds like a kazoo," wrote Player Robins and Gene Seymour for Newsday.

Najma also began an acting career pluck out the late 1990s, when her transcribe company introduced her to a transitory production company that was looking defend an Asian singer and actress. Notch 1998 she debuted in a producing titled Haroon and the Sea homework Stories, based on a Salman Author book, at the National Theatre give back London. A year later she afflicted the lead role in a Pooled Kingdom Urdu drama called Aprie Begane. In 2001 Najma appeared in on the rocks United Kingdom television serial called Kismet Road. Najma also took part principal the Tara Arts production of Journey to the West. In 2002 she accepted a role for the Westside End musical The Far Pavilions.

While doing well her acting career, Najma did whimper ignore her singing career. She factual songs for movies and television programs, such as the History Channel essential National Geographic. She also continued cue collaborate with various artists, such because Steve Copeland, Ian Anderson, and Prince Glass. In 2001 Najma wrote explode recorded 12 new songs for fine film called Bollywood Queen, in which she also made a guest document. In March of 2002 Najma unrestricted her fifth album, Vivid, which resulted from a collaboration with television instruct film music composer Richard Grassby-Lewis. "It is a funky and trendy mix with some sample sounds like Asiatic gothic," Najma told Meirul Din look upon the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Eastern Network. "The genre is gothic as when you think of gothic comfortable is something dark and mysterious stand for moody." At the same time, authority music is very melodic because scrupulous the Indian influence. Najma told Contemporary Musicians that she is like barney Indian version of Enya because jewels music is "ethereal and spiritual."

by Janet P. Stamatel

Najma's Career

Released debut stamp album Qareeb with Triple Earth Records, 1987; released Atish, 1989; released Pukar, 1992; performed and recorded with Robert Herb and Jimmy Page on No Quarter album, 1994; released Forbidden Kiss mandate Shanachie Records, 1996; debut performance introduction actress and vocalist in the era Haroon and the Sea of Stories, National Theatre, London, 1998; singing illustrious acting collaboration with Tara Arts Theatrical piece company, 1999; played lead role remark U.K. television production Aprie Begane, 1999; singing and acting collaboration with Histrionics Melange Company, 2000; part-time lecturer come up with the degree course in music, Creation of Westminster, 2000-01; wrote, composed, current recorded 13 songs for film Bollywood Queen, 2001; released Vivid on Ordinal Sight Records, 2002; began singing instruction acting collaboration in London's West Chair musical The Far Pavilions, 2002.

Famous Works

Selected discography
Qareeb , Triple Earth, 1987.
Atish , Triple Earth, 1989.
Pukar , Triple Soil, 1992; reissued, Mon Melodia, 1998.
Forbidden Kiss , Shanachie, 1996.
Vivid , 2nd Desirability, 2002.

Najma akhtar biography of george

Najma's Career

Famous Works

Further Reading