International Singing Sensation Shaheen Sheik Stages a Revolution with Latest Album
Los Angeles, CA, May 1, 2008 – Rising star, recording artist and producer, Shaheen (pronounced shuh-heen) released her highly anticipated album entitled REVOLUTION today, featuring 11 world, electro-pop dance and lounge tracks. Marking the launch of an album that challenges reviewers and critics to box Shaheen into any one category, a private listening party with friends, media and industry guests will be held in Santa Monica to celebrate and sample a selection of songs. Ever the dynamic artist, Shaheen forges her own path in the emerging fusion music scene, blurring the lines between American pop music, electronica and global sounds from South Asia. REVOLUTION pays homage to the strength a woman wields as she comes into her own with a combination of confidence, compassion, seduction and power. Songs off the album are available for streaming and purchase on www.myspace.com/shaheenmusic and will be available on iTunes and CDbaby.com later this month.
Dubbed "India's answer to Sheryl Crow" by the Mumbai press for her acoustic singer-songwriter style on the debut album, Rock Candy, she blazed a trail both abroad and in the US with her uncompromising, intimate folk-pop repertoire. Shaheen’s high standard of artistic integrity coupled with her charming stage presence garnered her invitations to perform at exclusive celebrity events such as the Zoom TV Glam Awards (Mumbai) and Women’s Image Network Awards (Los Angeles). With videos reaching the top of the charts on the International Music Feed (IMF), MTV Desi and MTV India, and tracks spinning on radio stations and podcasts from Los Angeles to London, Mumbai to Munich, her popularity in the indie music scene was evident. Now fresh off a highly coveted Top 10 Unsigned Artist spot on Los Angeles radio station Star 98.7, and after surpassing nearly 120 bands in popularity with her intoxicatingly catchy sound, Shaheen makes her way to the Emergenza Music Festival Semi Finals on May 9th in Hollywood. Shaheen is ready to cause a REVOLUTION with her new release.
"I had been itching to create something edgy, music that can make you move, and make you think, and REVOLUTION encapsulates just that," explains Shaheen on her latest production. "Writing and producing this album completely on my own was intense, but also incredibly liberating, and in fact, it was actually this personal revolution that eventually led me to the album name."
South Indian by background, but born and raised in Cleveland, her teen years through adulthood spent in Los Angeles with time both in the Bay Area and East Coast, meshed with worldwide travels, Shaheen's global sound has emerged as an intermingling of places she’s been. She also cites a musical symphony of influences: her mother's melodic voice, classical Indian artists such as Ali Akbar Khan and Yesudas and contemporary ones like the Chemical Brothers and Wyclef Jean, as well as the Dave Matthews Band, U2 and Sade, to name a few.
Her creative soundscape is backed by playful, political and poignant stories that touch on intellectual topics like HIV in India (the title track), and Thai prostitution (Dainty Lady), to empowering lyrics that reclaim the term “coconut” as a positive force rather than a racial slur about being brown on the outside and white on the inside (Coconut) or looking for love in all the wrong places (Where Are You?). Each track was inspired by a personal experience or that of a friend and she has laced little secrets waiting to be discovered throughout the music whether woven into the lyrics, sounds or production. Shaheen's intent is to speak to her audience with musical and lyrical honesty in order to inspire and provoke thought about the issues in the world we can begin to change with something as a simple as a shift in perspective. To that end, Shaheen is also supporting the environment with eco-friendly CD packaging made from recycled materials and void of the normal shrink wrap.
Guest artists on the album include witty vocals by rocker, Jungli on Coconut, string arrangement and performance by Shane O Madden of Govinda on Here We Go, and seductive dhol beats by Teginder S. Dhanoa infuse Where Are You?. A music video is also in the works for title track, REVOLUTION.
To sample her revolutionary new sound, please visit www.myspace.com/shaheenmusic and stay tuned for the launch of www.shaheensheik.com in mid-May.
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Media Contact:
Natasha Alim Goud, Radiant PR
310-428-6414, natasha@radiantpr.com
Shaheen is a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer and actress. See and hear her @ www.myspace.com/shaheenmusic.