Posted April 14th, 2011
Tamil London singer songwriter Susheela Raman is to trail the release of her new landmark album VEL with a performance on April 19th at the Southbank Centre’s Alchemy festival.
Since her Mercury Music Prize nominated debut album ‘Salt Rain’ in 2001, Susheela has established herself as one of the most creative artists to emerge from the South Indian diaspora in London. She has a reputation as an incandescent live performer with a beautifully seductive voice and 5 albums of resonant emotion.
Susheela’s performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall will showcase many of the musicians who feature on VEL, including some of Rajasthan’s most talented musicians.
VEL is a landmark recording and significant evolution; sung half in English and half in Tamil, for the first time she draws from the music of Tamil devotionalism (bhakti). Susheela’s voice has never been more compelling and reveals both confidence and maturity by integrating diverse musical worlds to create a unique sound.
Susheela says:
“I am now very happy writing both in English and Tamil so the lyrics and language flow more naturally.”
Her music has been enriched by the rawness of her encounters with Asian music and culture:
“In the last few years, I have been exposed and connected to the soul-stirring musicians of Lahore, Tamil nadu, Rajasthan and Bengal. The ecstatic energies they transmit with such urgent intensity, their poetic skill, humility and generosity of spirit have really changed my whole approach to music.”
Her album VEL is released in May and will be available from Outerindia and distributed by Essential Music.
You can read more about Susheela Raman, her album VEL and view photography at this link to a web book:
http://www.blurb.com/books/2050429
Petra Coveney – Coveney Communications
+44 (0)7590 831 966
For information about the Alchemy Festival contact:
Katie Toms – Press officer, Southbank Centre
+44 (0)20 7921 0926
For a review copy of her new album contact:
Peter Jenner – Sincere Management
+44 (0)20 8960 4438