Category: Archives

Currently touring with the Imagined Village Project, featuring English folk legends Martyn and Eliza Carthy, Paul Weller, Benjamin Zephenia, Billy Bragg, Chris Wood.

The Imagined Village album grew out of a discussion prompted by the BBC Radio 3 documentary “A Place Called England”, which addressed the blind spot amongst the English concerning their own musical heritage. The Imagined Village is also influenced by Georgina Boyes’ book of the same name, which examined the pivotal impact Victorian and Edwardian song collectors, most notably Cecil Sharp, made on the development of an English music repertoire. They were the original folk revivalists whose work left an amazing legacy for future generations. As with most legacies, the treasures contained within are open to re-examination and as society and music changes, the song may not always remain the same.

www.imaginedvillage.com  Tour Dates

She is currently working on, and will eventually be performing a raag based orchestral piece composed by Sir John Tavener.

The music is inspired by the Hindu sacred scriptures by Adi Sankaracharya called ‘Soundarya Lahari’. The name means ‘waves of beauty’ and consists of two parts, Ananda Lahari meaning ‘waves of happiness’ (first 41 stanzas) and Soundarya Lahari (the next 59 stanzas).

It is believed that Lord Ganesha himself has etched the Ananda Lahari on Mount Meru, some people believe that Sage Pushpa Dhantha did the etching. It was read from there by Sage Goudapada who taught it to Adi Sankara. Adi Sankara himself added the rest of the 59 stanzas and completed it.

‘Cascade: beyond eight bars’ is a collaberation which brings together five leading British musicians from all over the UK, each of whom has a reputation for cross-genre and improvisatory work. They are Andy Sheppard, Kuljit Bhamra, Simon Toumire, Aiden O’Rouke and Sheema Mukherjee.

The programme is made up of works composed for this unique line-up, alongside other works which have been developed from original themes or starting points. All the material has been composed by the ensemble, who have worked together as a collective to create the final set.

The resulting music incorporates themes, techniques, colours and influences from many different musical traditions, which individually and collectively represent the UK’s vibrant music scene.

www.cascadetour.info

Sheema continues to write and perform with the legendary world dance group Transglobal Underground.

Sheema has co-written and performed on their last 3 albums. Their latest album is called Moonshout on Mule Satellite Recordings.
See link for details.

www.t-g-u.com

Recently signed by Big Life Publishing and All Seriousness Music, her debut album is produced by Youth and will be released on the Liquid Sound Design label early in 2008.