An overview of Indian classical music and Raga, including aspects of development eg. Alap and Jor, gat & tala, as well as Indian musical ornament in fusion.
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Workshop
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Transglobal Underground
Sheema Mukherjee has worked with Transglobal Underground for 25 years.
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Spoken Word
The first spoken word project Sheema Mukherjee worked on was with Tuup, ‘The Uprecedented Unorthodox Preacher’. Website: https://tuup-storyteller.wixsite.com/tuup It is the told and improvised musical performance of a traditional Indian story called the King and the Corpse, shorter stories within a frame story.
She then began working with another stortyteller, Emily Hennessey. Web site: emilyhennessey.co.uk Together they have 4 shows to date, which the regularly perform, based on the Hindu Epics, Kali, Ramayana, Holy Cow! (Stories from the Ganges). There are also 2 shows more suitable for children.
Emily Hennessey, Ben Haggerty, Stephanie Britton, Tuup, Raoul Neumann (Balkan Marching band) and Rav Neiyyer (TGU), plus a few floaters, and myself, have developed a third project called Pandvani 108. This is based on a 3000 year old storytelling style from central India. The performances include shorter stories from around the world, eg Thor, Drupadi, Narcissus, Dionysus, Amaterasu (Japanese creation story). It is performed with various instruments, improvisation, vocals and contemporary musical references.
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Theatre
Sheema Mukherjee started out in theatre as composer for the shows ‘The Cornershop’ & ‘Eat!’ with Black Country Touring & Foursight, & some smaller shows for Northern Exposure (West Yorkshire Playhouse). In between musical performances and other projects, she was asked to compose for live orchestra for the RSC production of The Empress at the Swan in Stratford on Avon, playing sitar at the helm of a ship! She went on to also performed in Emma Rice’s production of ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ at The Globe.
She has also composed, scented & performed & toured live for Oilycart, which is theatre & music specifically for special needs children 2 shows, ‘In a Pickle’ & Kubka Khan, designed around the poem by Coleridge. During the lockdowns, Sheema was involved in the creation of another scented musical for special needs children called ‘Evolve’, which we are planning to tour in 2023.
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Imagined Village Project
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.
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With Sir John Tavener, composer
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.
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Cascade – beyond eight bars
‘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.
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Transglobal Underworld
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.
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Publishing deal and debut album
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.