Since the release of her debut EP, Qasr, in 2024, south Asian-American vocalist and composer Sheherazaad has developed a distinctive take on the classical singing of her heritage. While her contemporaries such as the singers Ganavya and Manizeh draw on spiritual vocal traditions, and Arooj Aftab on jazz and folk instrumentation, Sheherazaad’s work is darker and far more introspective, using sparse acoustic arrangements to create a style of Urdu-language noir.
On this debut album, she delivers her most disarmingly eerie and mournful work yet. A heavy layer of reverb coats the record’s spare and often evocative arrangements, making undulating tabla hits echo beneath Sheherazaad’s keening vocals on Qatil, while on Registaan it lends an unnervingly distorted quality to a simple guitar refrain and on Mard it subsumes melody in a haze of resonance. The resulting atmosphere sits somewhere between PJ Harvey’s late-90s eerie grunge and the trip-hop qawwali of Massive Attack’s work with singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – an ambience that is as unsettlingly gloomy as it is engaging.
Other elements of Sheherazaad’s arrangements cohere slightly less well – the whispered spoken word of Gulukara and Kohinoor is too theatrical – but when singing, her vocal performance is virtuosic. A husky lower register anchors the plucked strings of Pakeezah, while on Andhera she sings in a full-throated melismatic mode, and standout track Zeher modulates each facet of her voice through electronic processing to create an oneiric blend of robotic bass, Auto-Tune harmony and glimpses of natural, emotive melody. Backed by a range of instrumentation, from tabla and stringed folk instruments such as the veena, rabab and tanbur, to cello, guitar, violin and harp, Sheherazaad creates an engrossing fusion that turns away from explosive dynamics and bright optimism and instead embraces the sombre solipsism of night.
Also out this month
Rizan Said, longtime synth player for Syrian singer Omar Souleyman, releases his new album Ma Waraa Al-Shaabi (Kou Records). Blending syncopated dabke rhythms with glittering electro melody and clattering drum programming, the resulting record is infectiously upbeat and frenetically joyful. Malian kora griot Ballaké Sissoko releases his latest album, Djelimady No 1 (No Format): dedicated to the memory of his father, the musician Djelimady Sissoko, Ballaké plays Gambian and Malian folk songs largely unadorned, tenderly displaying the intricate and emotive range of his instrument. And Iranian and Turkish traditions combine on the self-titled debut release from instrumental trio Aram (Muziekpublique). Finding common ground in the Persian tar lute and Turkish kamancheh, the trio produce beautifully delicate improvisations veering between the jazz fusion work of Anouar Brahem and the polyrhythms of ancient Sufi poetry.
