{"id":8610,"date":"2020-04-20T13:00:39","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=8610"},"modified":"2026-02-03T04:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:06:39","slug":"keep-making-music-that-inspires-and-challenges-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=8610","title":{"rendered":"“Keep making music that inspires and challenges us…”- Sohini Alam & Oliver Weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exclusive interview with Sohini Alam & Oliver Weeks<\/strong> – Musicians<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Sohini Alam<\/strong> is a British Bangladeshi singer whose musical\nrepertoire includes folk, modern, and traditional Bengali songs with a\nspecialisation in Nazrul Sangeet. She also composes and has branched out into\nmulti-lingual music in bands and for dance, film, and theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini is lead vocalist for her critically acclaimed band\nKhiyo and for Kishon Khan\u2019s Afro Cuban-Bengali jazz band Lokkhi Terra. She is a\nco-founder of the arts company Komola Collective, which tells stories from the\nfemale perspective. She is also a musical director of the award-winning\ndocumentary Rising Silence. She has been touring internationally with Akram\nKhan\u2019s Until the Lions, which premiered at the Roundhouse in London and\nprovided vocals for Jocelyn Pook\u2019s score of Khan\u2019s Olivier Award-winning piece\nDESH. She is a member of In Place of War\u2019s international female collaboration\nGRRRL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third generation vocalist, Sohini trained in music with\nher mother, Hiron Alam and her aunts, renowned Nazrul singers Jannat Ara and\nFerdous Ara. She has performed worldwide including Ronnie Scott\u2019s Jazz Club,\nWOMAD UK, the closing celebrations of the 2010 South Asian Games, and the 2018\nCommonwealth Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver Weeks<\/strong> is a London-based composer, guitarist and pianist. He\nstudied music at Clare College, Cambridge and composition with Robin Holloway,\nfollowed by a PhD in composition from the Royal Academy of Music, London. His\nmusic has been performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the\nPhilharmonia, the Royal Academy Soloists, the BBC Singers and the Endymion\nEnsemble. He was Cambridge University Music Society\u2019s inaugural\ncomposer-in-residence in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has scored two full-length feature film soundtracks:\nCat Sticks (Ronny Sen, India 2019), dealing with drug addicts in Kolkata and\nwhich premiered at Slamdance 2019 and Rising Silence (Leesa Gazi, Bangladesh \/\nUk \/ India 2018), based around the stories of the Birangona, survivors of the\nmass rape by the Pakistani Army in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh and\nwhich won the \u2018Best Documentary\u2019 award at Dhaka International Film Festival\n2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver started composing at the age of six, with the\nambitious oratorio The Wanderings Of Odyseuss (sic). Growing up with an equal\namount of Chuck Berry and Wagner, he fell in love with the latter in the early\n80s through a BBC broadcast of the Boulez\/Ch\u00e9reau centenary Bayreuth Ring\ncycle. He also absorbed 50s and 60s rock\u2019n\u2019roll influences when, as a pyjama-ed\ntoddler, he was brought along to his father\u2019s gigs at various celebrated venues\nin the South-West of England, including Gladstone Liberal Club (Chippenham),\nMarden Flexiplastics Social Club (Midsomer Norton), and Timsbury British\nLegion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has been working with major Bengali artists for 16\nyears. In 2002, he began working with award-winning singer-songwriter and\nethnomusicologist Moushumi Bhowmik. Their work together has included theatre\ncommissions (Walking To The Sun, Prithvi Theatre Mumbai 2010) tours of India\nand Bangladesh and a full-length album (Songs From 26H, 2016). In 2007, he\nfounded Khiyo with Sohini Alam (also known for her collaborations with Akram\nKhan on Desh &amp; Until The Lions). Their version of the Bangladeshi\nnational anthem, Amar Shonar Bangla, was released to success and controversy in\n2012, and their debut album appeared in 2015 on ARC Music to excellent reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is a prolific arranger, working for artists as diverse\nas Chas &amp; Dave, Elton John, Jonny Greenwood, Keaton Henson, Howard\nGoodall and Andy Burrows (on the music for David Brent: Life on the Road). He\nwas a founder member the London underground metal band Astrohenge, who put out\ntwo albums on the Eyesofsound label in the 2010s. He has also played session\nkeyboards for Pixie Lott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Name of Artist\/Band? (Include all band members names and\ninstruments played.)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini Alam and Oliver Weeks. We are the Music Directors of Rising Silence. <\/em>The film\u2019s soundtrack contains contributions from Indian singer-songwriter Moushumi Bhowmik, several Bangladeshi artists, and tracks written by us and by our band Khiyo. The third full-time member of Khiyo is our bass player Ben Heartland.Rising Silence features our close collaborators Hassan Mohyeddin (tabla), Flora Curzon (violin), Nazrul Islam (dhol), and two members of London\u2019s Ligeti Quartet: Richard Jones (viola) and Valerie Welbanks (cello). The soundtrack also features field recordings of Afsar Uddin and Abu Hanif and performances by Raju Bala and Rijia Begum Mohon, two of the Birangonas from the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Oliver Weeks by Ronny Sen <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat is your music background? Do you write your own songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have\nbackgrounds in Bengali folk, Nazrul, and Tagore music as well as western\nclassical and rock. We do arrangements for existing songs, but we also write\nour own songs\/pieces of music. We formed Khiyo in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: Besides\nmy lifelong training in Bengali music, I\u2019ve been singing in an\nAfro-Cuban-Bengali jazz band and making music for theatre for 13 years now, so\nI\u2019ve branched out into singing in multiple languages and various styles. I\u2019ve\nalso done some electronic music and was working with State of Bengal until the\ndeath of Sam Zaman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver: I’ve\nalways played a lot of different kinds of music and this is part of my\nbackground, much of which I get from my father, who played folk music in pubs\nin St. Albans in his teens, then ditched rock music in the 70s and taught\nhimself jazz and classical music. I wrote my first ‘pieces’ when I was five or\nsix, beginning violin lessons and doodling on the piano around the same time. I\nstudied contemporary classical composition at Cambridge and the Royal Academy\nMusic and always played guitar in bands as well. These two streams \u2013 two types\nof music – are something I’ve been trying to make inhabit a similar world since\nthen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow important is image?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: I guess it depends on what you mean by image. If\nimage becomes more important than<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the work, then that\u2019s a problem, but it probably has more\nimportance than we give it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver: For me, it boils down to \u2018hmm..,that photo isn\u2019t\ntoo shocking \u2013 let\u2019s send that over to them\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat image do you think your\nmusic conveys?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Rising Silence, we tried to make our music complement\nthe visuals of the film. We hope that the music conveys the indomitable spirit\nof the women it depicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nDescribe your style.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s difficult to describe. We say Bengali music with a\nLondon sound because while our lyrics are in Bengali, the music has influences\nfrom around the world, which finds a natural home in a cosmopolitan city like\nLondon. That would apply to New York as well, so if we were based in the\nStates, New York might have been our musical home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat are you currently working\non?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a band called Khiyo that features on the Rising\nSilence soundtrack. We are <\/strong>currently working on tracks for Khiyo\u2019s second album. Our\nfirst album had Bengali heritage songs that we gave our own spin, but this\nalbum is going to have original songs too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: I also sing in an Afro-Cuban Bengali jazz band\ncalled Lokkhi Terra and an international electric collaboration called GRRRL.\nBesides these, I do projects as a solo artist, from singing in trees to running\nmusical workshops with refugees. I recently completed a world tour of the show\nUntil the Lions with the renowned dancer\/choreographer Akram Khan after\npreviously working with him on his show Desh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver: I\u2019m currently finalising the release of another\nsoundtrack, written for Cat Sticks, <\/em>a gritty Indian film dealing with drug addicts in\nKolkata, directed by photographer Ronny Sen. There are some other interesting\ncommissions on the horizon, including a string quartet for the Ligeti Quartet\nand another film soundtrack. I write on a day-to-day basis anyway, often when\nI’m just hanging around not actually working, waiting for the bus, getting a\ncoffee, etc. (the sort of times that nowadays people spend fiddling with their\nphones). I find half-finished songs, themes, ideas, etc. written in these\nmoments to be a very fertile source of material for the most unlikely,\nyet-to-be-conceived projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam: What inspired this project and who did you work\nwith?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: The film\u2019s director Leesa Gazi works with me on\nmany projects including writing lyrics for Khiyo. Leesa and I are co-founders\nof an arts organisation called Komola Collective along with Filiz Ozcan and\nCaitlin Abbott. Komola is also one of the producers of Rising Silence, so it\nwas very natural for us to all work together on this film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nHow do you define success?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: That\u2019s a tough one. I think critical acclaim is\nnice, but it would be nice for that to be accompanied by financial stability in\nmusic. For now, it seems to be one or the other, so I guess success for me\nwould be to have more income to go with the appreciation for my music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver: I find \u2018success\u2019 increasingly to be almost a\nmental health issue: I get miserable and resentful if I\u2019m not writing, or if I\nfeel that what I\u2019m writing is rubbish. \u2018You\u2019re only as good as your last piece\u2019\nisn\u2019t quite it. It\u2019s more like: \u2018You\u2019re only as good as the piece you\u2019re\nworking on at the moment.\u2019 I like to be right in the middle of something and\ngetting excited and mentally stretched by it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nCan you share with us any of your memorable performances?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khiyo had a\ngreat headline gig at the Southbank Centre\u2019s Purcell Room featuring a string\nquartet in addition to the regular band line up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: During\nthe world tour with Akram, I got to perform in incredible venues in 38 cities\nincluding the Roundhouse in London and Culver Studios in LA. I\u2019ve also\nperformed at the closing celebrations of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in\nAustralia with GRRRL and WOMAD and Ronnie Scott\u2019s Jazz Club with Lokkhi Terra,\nwhich were amazing experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver: The\ngigs I find the most memorable are usually the most chaotic ones. I played\npiano for seven years in a metal band, Astrohenge (we sounded a bit like Slayer\ncovering Chas \u2018n\u2019 Dave), and most of our gigs achieved a respectable level of\nchaos. The two guitarists would play in the audience and usually get mildly\nbeaten up whilst the drummer and I would stand back and try to play to the best\nof our abilities whilst getting beer thrown at us. Getting a piece played by,\nsay, the LPO on the South Bank has its charms but isn\u2019t quite as viscerally\nentertaining. Both have their place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhich instruments do you play\nif any?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: I try to avoid playing the harmonium as I\u2019m\nrubbish at it. It\u2019s best I stick to singing and composing melodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olly: I play piano, electric and acoustic guitars, violin\nand mandolin. My singing is best described as \u2018divisive\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat other hobbies do you have?\nAre there any causes that you support?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: Between three bands and touring with Akram, I haven\u2019t really had much time for my hobbies, but I\u2019m usually a voracious reader. I\u2019m passionate about women\u2019s rights, and I get to support that cause through our arts organisation Komola Collective, which focuses on telling stories from the female perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver: I have an energetic four-year-old boy on my\nbooks, so I don\u2019t have time for hobbies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nAny plans for upcoming\ntours\/performances?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Covid-19 crisis has put a stop to any shows for now,\nincluding shows that we wanted to do to promote the Rising Silence soundtrack.\nWe hope to be able to put together a run of performances in about a year from\nnow when we release the second Khiyo album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam: <\/strong>What are your long-term career goals?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nkeep making music that inspires and challenges us<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nCan you tell us about any albums\/songs you have released?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We released a\nsingle Amar Shonar Bangla in 2013, which quickly went viral amongst\nBangladeshis worldwide as it was our take on the Bangladesh national anthem. We\nreleased the first critically acclaimed Khiyo album in 2015 through ARC Music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sohini: My band\nLokkhi Terra has released two previous albums and is about to release the third\ncalled CuBangla. GRRRL has digitally released some tracks, and I also appear on\nsome compilation albums and the Desh soundtrack by Jocelyn Pook. A few of my\nreleases can be found on www.soundcloud.com\/sohinialam<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver: Apart\nfrom Khiyo, the Rising Silence and Cat Sticks soundtracks, I\u2019ve been on a\nfairly diverse range of records. There are the two Astrohenge albums, horn\narrangements for cockney legends Chas \u2018n\u2019 Dave on their final album,\nlong-standing work with Indian singer-songwriter Moushumi Bhowmik, and an\nout-of-character Pixie Lott session keyboard appearance.  I\u2019ve also done a huge amount of arranging\nwork, some of which will have ended up on releases whose existence I\u2019m\ncompletely unaware of at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NY Glam:<\/strong>\nWhat\u2019s next? <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We plan to release the second Khiyo album next year. We\nhope that when the Covid-19 crisis subsides, we can take the Rising Silence\nconcert to Bangladesh and perform in front of the Birangona women who inspired\nus by telling their stories with such bravery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exclusive interview with Sohini Alam & Oliver Weeks – Musicians Sohini Alam is a British Bangladeshi singer whose musical repertoire includes folk, modern, and traditional Bengali songs with a specialisation in Nazrul Sangeet. She also composes and has branched out into multi-lingual music in bands and for dance, film, and theatre. Sohini is lead vocalist for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19258,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8610\/revisions\/19258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}