Susheela Raman
| Susheela Raman | |
|---|---|
Raman in Paris Plage, 2007
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Susheela Raman |
| Born |
21 July 1973 Hendon, London, UK |
| Genres | Ambient, carnatic, jazz, blues, folk, trance |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, composer, arranger |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels |
XIII Bis Narada |
| Website |
susheelaraman.com Susheela Raman Myspace |
Susheela Raman (Tamil: சுசீலா ராமன்; born 21 July 1973) is an acclaimed British Indian musician. Raman has released five albums since 2001 and was nominated for the 2006 BBC World Music Awards. Raman's debut album Salt Rain was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2001. Raman is known for energetic, vibrant, syncretic, and uplifting live performances built on the sacred Bhakti and Sufi traditions of India and Pakistan. She is married to Sam Mills of Real World Records.
Susheela Raman's parents are Tamils from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, India, who arrived in London, UK in the mid-sixties. At the age of four, Raman and her family left the UK for Australia. Susheela grew up singing South Indian classical music and began giving recitals at an early age. She recalls how her family "were eager to keep our Tamil culture alive." As a teenager in Sydney she started her own band, describing its sound as "funk and rock and roll", before branching out into more blues and jazz-based music, which demanded quite different voice techniques. She tried to bring these streams together when in 1995 she travelled to India to rediscover her roots by way of further exploring Carnatic music. She currently resides on Portobello Road, West London.
Returning to England in 1997, she started to work with her partner, guitarist/producer Sam Mills who had recorded "Real Sugar" with a Bengali singer named Paban Das Baul. According to Raman "it bridged a gap and found common ground for one particular kind of Indian music to be expressed to a new audience." In 1999, Raman co-wrote songs for the album One and One is One by Joi, also performing on the track "Asian Vibes." Mill's had worked with West African musicians in the group Tama which also opened musical contact points within the Parisian music scene.
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