By Mahlia Lone
By now the world is familiar with Sadiq Khan, the son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver (incidentally currently all the Pakistani descent politicians in the UK have fathers who were bus drivers), becoming the first actively affiliated Muslim to become mayor of a major Western capital and that too with the largest personal mandate in British electoral history—a whopping 56.8 per cent. A social democrat, Khan is the Labour party’s most senior elected office-holder at the moment and is challenging the party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Khan’s contemporaries are impressed with him calling him “fiercely bright, persuasive and impossible not to listen to,†while his opponents have accused him of political opportunism. Only time will tell how far he will go and what his term in office means for fostering a secular and racially tolerant global culture. Let’s find out more about Sadiq Khan, the dynamic and super ambitious man who growing up with next to nothing will be ruling over London for the next four years. After which, if he does well, he is roported to plan to take over the Labour party’s leadership in 2020.
Sadiq Aman Khan was born in London in 1970 the fifth of 8 children (seven brothers and a sister). His family had recently immigrated to the U.K. and was residing in a three bedroom council housing flat in Tooting where he shared a bunk bed with a brother till the day he left the family home in his 20s. His late father Amanullah Khan worked as a bus driver for 25 years, while his mother Sehrun was a seamstress in her spare time. Sadiq went to a local school that was known for having very rough kids in it, which made him street-smart he said. He worked after school from a young age to help his family out. The Khan boys also, like other immigrants at the time, faced a lot of racism, particularly at rowdy football matches. Sadiq, a bright boy, planned to become a dentist, but a teacher spurred him on to study law due to his being so argumentative. His headmistress Naz Bokhari, the first Muslim headmistress at a UK secondary school, taught him that “skin colour or background isn’t a barrier to making something with your life.â€At 15, he joined the Labour Party.
After graduating law, Khan joined human rights lawyer Louise Christian Fisher’s law firm and was made an equity partner after only three years at age 27 and the law firm’s name was subsequently changed to Christian Khan (from 1997 to 2005). During his legal career, he took on high profile cases concerning the police, employment and discrimination law and judicial reviews, etc. In 1994, he married fellow solicitor also of Pakistani descent and a bus driver’s daughter Saadiya Ahmed. They have two daughters, Anisah (born 1999) and Ammarah (born 2001).
Khan served as a councillor for Tooting for 12 years from 1994 too 2006. Upon his retirement from local politics, he was granted the title of Honorary Alderman of Wandsworth.
Khan beat out five candidates to become Labour’s candidate for MP from Tooting and was elected to Parliament in the 2005 General Election. He was awarded the Newcomer of the Year Award at The 2005 Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards “for the tough-mindedness and clarity with which he has spoken about the very difficult issues of Islamic terror.†Under the Labour government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Khan was first appointed Minister of State for Communities in 2008, and then the Minister of State for Transport, at a time when there were only four Muslim MPs in total.
Now, he is the Mayor of London and has resigned his member of Parliament seat. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was conpicuously absent from Khan’s swearing in ceremony. In turn, Khan criticised Corbyn’s election strategy. Ambitious Khan is reported to may want to take over the party leadership once his term of office in London’s City Hall comes to an end in 2020.
How other Pakistani descent Londoners feel about Sadiq Khan’s election win:
Salman Jahangir, business owner: “Boris bikes are soon be replaced by Sadiq rickshaws. Just joking. But seriously, it’s great that we have a Mayor of Pakistani descent. However, in my view, the issue shouldn’t be about his background or religion. Sadiq’s victory reflects how inclusive and diverse London, arguably the world’s capital, really is. Especially after a toxic campaign which contravened community cohesion. In his own words, Londoners chose “hope over fear and unity over division.â€
Saif Lone (Conservative Party member): “I hope Sadiq Khan can actually deliver on his promises to the voters. Firstly, he has promised to improve London’s transport system and freeze all London’s Tube, train and bus fares for four years. Additionally, there needs to be real leadership to get the Night Tube running, a priority for Londoners. It would be very unfortunate if Sadiq backs down to appease the unions of which he has a history of doing, as he enjoys the support of some of Britain’s biggest trade unions. Then, he promised to solve the housing crisis and build more social housing and council homes. But to do this, he plans to raise council tax, so taxpayers pay more when they own a home and have a mortgage. Next, he has pledged to keep the city safe from extremism.â€
Saira Kabir Sheikh, barrister and Queen’s Counsel: “Sadiq Khan getting elected Mayor of London demonstrates a city that goes for meritocracy and not rhetoric. This amazing diverse city was unimpressed with scare-mongering and voters went for who they thought was the best candidate. The fact that he is Muslim and the son of an immigrant bus driver means less to me than that the fact that voters chose the candidate they considered would get the job done regardless of backgrounds although undoubtedly these are further factors that underline Sadiq Khan’s achievement.â€
The World’s Most Beautiful Woman & The Sexiest Man Alive
Ashwariya Rai was born 1st November 1973 in Mangalore, Karnataka (south-western state of India) into a middle class orthodox Hindu Tulu-speaking Bunt (warrior class) family. Krishnaraj, her father, was a biologist in the Army, while her mother, Brinda is a stay at home mom. Her elder brother, Aditya Rai works currently as an engineer in the Merchant Navy. The family moved to Mumbai early on where Rai attended a Hindu affiliated private high school. Not only was she a diligent student earning a 90 per cent aggregate average in her Higher Senior Cambridge exams, but she also trained extensively in classical dance and music. Wanting to become an architect, she enrolled at a local Architecture Academy, but dropped out when she started receiving modeling offers.
In 1991, Ash won a Ford modeling agency contest and was featured in American Vogue. In 1993, she became popular in a Pepsi commercial alongside Aamir Khan and Mahima Chaudhry. Though she had but a single line: “Hi, I’m Sanjana,†her looks and screen presence made her an overnight sensation. The same year she entered the Miss India pageant, in which she came second after Sushmita Sen. In a historic double beauty pageant win for the country in the same year, Sushmita went to win the Miss Universe crown, while Ashwariya was crowned Miss World 1994.
Both Ashwariya and Salman have been immortalised with wax staues at Madam tussauds
Though Ashwariya made her film debut in 1997 with a Tamil film, it was with the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed 1999 hit Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam opposite Salman Khan that she first tasted commercial and critical success winning two Best Actress Awards: Filmfare and International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA). The movie’s box office takings were twice its budget, its success fueled by the onscreen chemistry of the lead pair, Ash and Salman Khan.
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan was born on 27th December 1965 in Mumbai to screenwriter Salim Khan, from an Afghani Pathan family, and Sushila Charak, renamed Salma Khan at marriage, of mixed Maharashtran and Kashmiri ancestry. Salman has two younger brothers, Arbaaz, married to actress/model/VJ Malaika Arora Khan, and Sohail, as well as two sisters, Alvira, married to actor/director Atul Agnihotri and an adopted sister Arpita. His stepmother is Helen, a yesteryear screen siren and dancer. The three brothers studied at the all boys Jesuit run St. Stanislaus High School spread over seven acres in Bandra, Mumbai. Salman then attended the prestigious Elphinstone College but dropped out only after a year to pursue acting.
In 1989, Salman made his debut as a leading man in Sooraj R. Barjatya’s romantic family drama Maine Pyar Kiya, which was the year’s highest grossing film and among the top 10 successful films of India of all times. Not only was it dubbed in Indian regional languages and became a hit in other provinces, but it was also dubbed both in English and Spanish, reduced to 125 minutes and became an international hit in far off places, like the Caribbean and South America, etc. Though the heroine Bhagyashree turned out to be a one hit wonder, Salman consolidated his success with a string of hits in the Nineties. In 1994, his second collaboration with Sooraj Barjatya the romcom Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994) opposite screen queen Madhuri Dixit broke all previous box office records, earning $20 million (or $70 million when adjusted for inflation), becoming Bollywood’s top grosser for seven years and is now the fourth highest earning Indian film ever. Then, came the action thriller Karan Arjun (1995) with Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar’s romantic drama Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) with Shah Rukh and Kajol, in which Salman was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor and David Dhawan’s comedy Biwi No.1 (1999) with Karisma Kapoor and Sushmita.
Philanthropic minded Salman started the charitable trust Being Human in 2007 to raise money for education and healthcare for the underprivileged, while Ash in 2010 pledged to donate her gorgeous green eyes to th Eye Bank Association of India after her death
At this time, Salman had broken up his serious relationship with model/actress Sangeeta Bijlani (who then had an affair with and subsequently married cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin after divorced his wife) and was dating Pakistani-American Bollywood actress Somy Ali (now a fashion designer). He became friendly with Ash who was trying to make it big in Bollywood, while he was an established box office star. Ash would come to visit him in his house and Somy Ali, not thinking anything of it, would direct her to his whereabouts.
On Salman’s insistence, Bhansali signed Ash on for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam after her modest success in Tamil film Jeans. During filming, the news broke that the two had started dating and a heart-broken Somy Ali departed for the U.S.    Quickly Ash became close to Salman’s family, including his sisters Alvira and Arpita, and became a part of every Khan family celebration. However, her father Krishnaraj Rai was not happy. To freely spend ample time with Salman, Ash moved out of the family home on the twelfth floor of the La Mer building where Sachin Tandulkar also resides and into a 17th floor duplex apartment in Gorakh Hill Tower, Lokhandwala, a high rise also in Bandra worth INR 10 million. Salman also lives in Bandra at the Galaxy Apartments, though he has a sprawling 150-acre estate in Panvel (a small town adjacent to Mumbai) with three bungalows, swimming pool and gym as well.
Trouble between them started when, according to Ash, Salman became possessive about her and would fly into jealous rages. One November night in 2001, Salman went to their love nest (Ash’s apartment) and started banging on the door for what seemed like hours, till 3 A.M. Eyewitnesses said he threatened to jump off the roof if she didn’t let him in. His hands were bleeding from the banging. Finally, she relented. Reportedly, he wanted her to assent to his marriage proposal, but Ash who was ambitious, was not ready for such a commitment at the time. Aishwarya’s father Krishnaraj Rai, hearing of the incident, reported it to the police. Salman confessed that Aishwarya was not returning his expression of love in kind, and that was why he had become violent, but he did not hit her. Though he convinced her to stay in the relationship with him, she started having doubts.
In a February 2002 interview to The Times Of, Salman admitted, “The incident is true, but it was overhyped by the media. I have a relationship with Aishwarya. If you do not fight in a relationship, it means you do not love each other. Why would I squabble with a person who is a stranger to me? Such things happen between us only because we love each other. Now, even the police have barred me from entering that building. Her parents are very nice people. They are orthodox like my family. They have heard about my past affairs and they didn’t like me in the life of their daughter. It is my fault, not theirs. I should have understood it earlier. They never stopped me from meeting with Aishwarya despite the fact that I treated them badly. Aishwarya did not like my behaviour towards them just as I would not appreciate anybody misbehaving with my father. Aishwarya’s father is completely justified in complaining against me. I have no grudge against him.â€
Then, film magazine Stardust reported that Somy Ali, his ex, called Salman up and asked for financial help for her father’s operation. Salman flew to the U.S.A to lend her support without telling Ash and she was furious. Again, they fought then reconciled, but the truce did not last for long. Salman accused Ash of cheating on him with none other than Abishek Bachchan, her costar in Kuch Naa Kaho. She counter accused him of flying into a rage on the set and damaging her car parked in the studio parking lot. The final nail in the coffin was when he burst in on the set of Chalte Chalte and started shouting at her to leave the studio with him because she was getting too chummy with her leading man/producer Shah Rukh Khan, who tried to intervene. Salman held him by his collar, but Shah Rukh managed to calm him down.
Aishwarya Rai confirmed in her September 27, 2002, interview to the Times of India: “Salman and I broke up last March, but he isn’t able to come to terms with it….After we broke up, he would call me and talk rubbish. He also suspected me of having affairs with my co-stars. I was linked up with everyone, from Abhishek Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan. There were times when Salman got physical with me, luckily without leaving any marks. And, I would go to work as if nothing had happened. Salman hounded me and caused physical injuries to himself when I refused to take his calls.â€
In another interview to The Indian Express, she said, “I stood by him enduring his alcoholic misbehaviour in its worst phases and in turn I was at the receiving end of his abuse (verbal, physical and emotional), infidelity and indignity. That is why like any other self-respecting woman I ended my relationship with him.â€
In response, Salman maintained that he had never physically attacked Aishwarya.  In an interview in September 2002 for MiD-Day, he said, “No. I have never beaten her. Anyone can beat me up. Any fighter here on the sets can thrash me. That is why people are not scared of me. I do get emotional. Then I hurt myself. I have banged my head against the wall; I have hurt myself all over. I cannot hurt anyone else. I have only hit Subhash Ghai. Yet, I apologised to him the next day. There are times when you do get out of control. That person hit me with a spoon, almost broke a plate on my face, pissed on my shoes and grabbed me by the neck. I could not control myself. And see what happened. Next day, I had to go and apologise.â€
“I love (Aishwarya). I am not hounding her. It’s not a teenage obsession that I feel for her — it’s pure love. She’s such a traditional Hindustani girl at the bottom of her heart. The fact that she respects her parents so much makes me admire her more,†he said.
It is interesting to note that the day after Aishwarya made her break-up public in the Times of India interview, Salman got drunk and rammed his Toyota Land Cruiser onto the pavement and into a bakery in suburban Bandra. A homeless man died and four were seriously injured in the crash and Salman went to jail for drunk driving and culpable suicide. Many of Salman’s friends and colleagues visited him in jail, but Aishwarya stayed away. They did not get back together after this.
Though charges were initially dropped in July 2013, Salman Khan was formally charged in this case to which he pleaded not guilty. Two years later, Salman was found guilty of all charges in the case and was sentenced to five years in prison, but was granted bail the same day. His driver Ashok Singh, who had testified that it was him who was driving the car at the time of accident, was charged with perjury for misguiding the Court with false testimony and was arrested. In a twist, the prime witness Police Constable Ravindra Patil was kidnapped and killed perhaps by the Mumbai underworld bosses that are reputed to have links with the film world. Subsequently, due to lack of evidence, in December 2015 Salman was acquitted of all charges much to the relief of his fans.
Meanwhile, Ashwariya sought consolation with the promising upcoming actor Vivek Oberoi, son of Quetta born veteran Indian actor Suresh Oberoi. Vivek had received a Filmfare Award for his debut movie Company (2002). She didn’t admit the relationship publicly but he would frequently escort her to events. They also starred in the movie Kyun Ho Gaya Na, released in 2004.
According to Vivek, on Ash’s indirect instigation he called a press conference in a hotel room on 31st March 2003 claiming that he had been receiving life threatening calls from Salman due to their budding relationship. There was direct fallout from this, with the film fraternity immediately siding with the powerful Khan. Quickly, Ash distanced herself from Vivek, calling him immature. She dropped him like a hot potato and Vivek must have felt very used and gullible. During the director/choreographer Farah Khan’s TV talk show, Vivek admitted that the press conference direly affected his career, which took a nosedive after this. He said that Salman’s brother Sohail Khan, who was once his best friend, never forgave him. Disgusted and disillusioned, Vivek Oberoi declared: “Aishwarya Rai is just plastic. You can never trust her as she can change at any hour of time.†Vivek profusely apologised to Salman, both publicly and privately for years to come, but Salman was adamant.
Ash being fiercely ambitious focused on her career, starring in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s hugely successful tragedy Devdas (2002) with Shah Rukh and Madhuri, in the Rituparno Ghosh directed critically acclaimed films Chokher Bali (2003) based on a Rabidranath Tagore novel and Raincoat (2004) based on a O Henry short story, among other films. In 2003, she became the first Indian actress to be a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival where she appeared as a global brand ambassador of L’Oréal, alongside Hollywood stars Andie MacDowell, Eva Longoria and Penélope Cruz. Additionally, she appeared in American and British films productions, including the awful Bride and Prejudice (2004), Mistress of Spices (2005), Provoked (2006), The Last Legion (2007) and Pink Panther 2 (2009). Though the films may have been commercially successful, the foreign critics panned her wooden acting. Indian blockbusters she appeared in this period have been the adventure film Dhoom 2 (2006) during the filming of which Abhishek reportedly fell for her, and the historical romance Jodhaa Akbar (2008) opposite Hritik Roshan.
Though they had both appeared in two films together prior to this, it was during her item song Kajra Re with both Abhishek and Big B himself (Amitabh) in Bunty Aur Babli (2005) that you sense things brewing. Amitabh seemed to be giving Ash his seal of approval (though she is unofficially a couple of years older than Abhishek). By the time Dhoom 2 started filming the following year, Ash and Abhishek were a couple. Their engagement was announced on 14th January 2007 and later confirmed by his father, Amitabh Bachchan on Twitter. The couple married on 20th April 2007, according to traditional Hindu rites of the Bunt community, to which her family belongs. She was also famously first married to a banana tree as she was considered inauspicious for her husband so the bad luck would befall the tree instead of Abhishek. The wedding reception took place at the palatial Bachchan residence Prateeksha in Juhu, Mumbai.
Together their star power shot up. Abhishek Bachchan accompanied Ash to the Cannes Film Festival shortly after their marriage, and later they both appeared as guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009, where Oprah described them as being more famous couple than Brangelina.
Ash due to being over forty had trouble conceiving and it was reported that she sought treatment for stomach TB and/or got IVF treatment, both which she vociferously refuted. When she finally did conceive, she took a sabbatical for five years. She gave birth to a baby girl on 16th November 2011, whom four months later they named Aaradhya Bachchan.
Though she has returned to films, Ashwariya now in her mid 40s is mostly seen appearing in commercials and endorsing products. She has received two Filmfare Awards to date and in 2009 the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest Indian civilian award by the Government of India for her contributions to the Arts. In 2012, she was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a national order of France. On a negative note, recently she along with her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan (who has also previously been implicated in corruptions scandals, including the infamous Bofors case though he was later acquitted in this) were named in the Panama Papers leak for having hidden their millions overseas.
Salman moved on with actress Katrina Kaif. The two were in a serious relationship till it ended in 2010 due to Salman’s inability to commit. In February 2006, he was sentenced to one year in prison for illegally hunting the Chinkara (black buck) an endangered species, but he ended up spending only 3 days in jail. In 2011, Salman revealed he suffers from the incurable trigeminal neuralgia, a facial nerve disorder commonly known as the suicide disease, for which he got surgery in the U.S.
Salman is on top of his game with the lead role in several successful action films, including Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015). He has won 2 Filmfare and 70 other film awards. Nine of the films in which Khan has acted in have accumulated gross earnings of over INR 1 billion (US$15 million). He is the only actor to star in the highest grossing Bollywood films of nine separate years. In fact, in one year he earned $33.5 million more than Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Leonardo di Caprio or Brad Pitt did that year. He is also the Bollywood actor with the highest rated TV show, even more than Amitabh. He has two production companies: SKBH Productions (Salman Khan Being Human Productions that donates all its profits to his charity Being Human to help the underprivileged) launched in 2011 and SKF (Salman Khan Films) launched in 2014 that produced Canadian film Dr. Cabbie, the second highest grossing Canadian film of that year, Hero and Bajrangi Bhaijan.
In a two page signed statement that she gave to the The Times of India in 2003, Ashwariya categorically stated, “For the sake of my well-being, my sanity, my dignity and the dignity and self-respect of my family—enough! I will not work with Mr. Salman Khan again. The Salman chapter was a nightmare in my life and I am thankful to God that it is over.†She has never looked back. However, Salman is still supposed to harbour a small soft corner for her. Though he is friendly with his other ex-girl friends, Salman and Ashwariya studiously stay away from each other to this day.
Sitarist Dr. Amie Maciszewski, is an award-winning artist and educator, who visited Lahore recently from Dallas, Texas, as a cultural ambassador with the support from the U.S. Consulate in Lahore for a series of performances. Audiences have described Amie’s classical sitar/tabla and Indo-jazz fusion ensemble performances as “stunning†and “amazing.†Amie tells Afshan Shafi and Kamil Chima about how her music deviates from more conventional forms and of the ways in which her musical creativity has progressed
Which influences have shaped the way your music has progressed and your choice of genre?
I was a baby-boomer and growing up in rural New Mexico fell in love with the Beatles. When they collaborated with Ravi Shankar that’s when I knew Hindustani music was the one for me. I was fascinated by that sound, but opportunities to hear live music were few and far between for me then so records were the way to listen to music. I came across Wonder Wall Music, which was the soundtrack of a British Film. They had Bismillah Khan, Ustaad Ashish Khan on that record too. It’s clear that Western Music has never been my cup of tea and I have also been touched by other forms of Eastern artistry too for example, Tagore’s writing has always been an influence.
Please elaborate on the Indo-jazz fusion element of your performances.
I have always liked Jazz, and would have loved to incorporate Jazz much earlier in my music as well. I also have always wanted to play the saxophone too. Yan Garbarik is an inspiration in this respect, he brought Fateh Ali Khan to record with him and their improvisational kinds of music gelled together very well. I wanted to explore this aspect in my music too.
Tell us more about the term ethnomusicology and your study in this regard.
This is a problematic term because musicology in the West has been exclusive to the study of Western classical music through notation and text, mainly in analyzing composition, though that has changed now. First they called it comparative musicology, but always in terms identifiable to western music and culture. My PhD dissertation had a strong anthropology component and was on gender in Hindustani music, I discovered that musical instruments are gendered in South Asia where you see women associated with certain instruments. My study also dealt with the role of tawaaifs (sex-workers) in this regard.
What do you feel has been a career (creative) defining moment for you?
My late guru Shantiniketan was immensely important to me as a musician and also my Girja Devi, vocal guru. Other experiences have also shaped my vision. I used to go to Kolkata and would stay in these really cheap places; I would go to China Town and stay at this Tibetan guest house where there was a kotha (brothel) there and I could see the tawaifs (sex-workers) performing through the windows, a small publishing company owned those buildings; that memory just stayed with me because I was inspired by the story of the tawaif and of thumri. A satrangi player then took me to one of those red light compounds. This has given me an interest in those kinds of songs; I prefer their romanticism and soulfulness more than mere musical virtuosity.
Please tell us more about your role in creating soundtracks for several independent films.
I’m so steeped in Hindustani music that I am steeped in russ (one of the melodic modes used in traditional South Asian music genres, such as Indian classical music and qawwali) there are nine navaras (musical notations particular to Indian classical music). You take those russ and use the mood of the film and match it with a segment of a raag that goes with that sound. I have also incorporated a Bengali folk song for a film on the freedom fighters of Bengal, so it’s a process of research as well as creativity.
Are you aware of any Pakistani musicians, if so, which ones would you love to collaborate with?
There are many that I like. Ones that I revere are Abida Parveen, Farida Khanum, Roshan Ara Begum, NFAK, Sanam Marvi; Fareed Ayez Abu Mohammad; Arieb Azhar, Iiked Reshma too and Mai Dhai.
What are your future projects?
Well the long term plans are to make a CD from my sound cloud collection and in the near future I will also visit Islamabad to perform at the FACE Mela.
What is the purpose of your visit to Pakistan?
One of the represntatives of the U.S. Consulate said we would like to have you come. First I asked, “Why me? I’m not a representative of American culture.†But she said you have a lot of familiarity with the Subcontinent and the Consulate thought that this could work as a tiny step toward Indo-Pak peace since I am so well acquainted with India as well. It’s been a pleasure, thus far!
BACKGROUND
Amie’s training includes both formal academic and traditional immersion training in India (B.Mus., M.Mus., sitar performance and mentorship under the late sitarist Professor Suresh Misra in Santiniketan, West Bengal) and the U.S. (Ph.D. ethnomusicology, UTexas at Austin), as well as ongoing traditional study with two legendary gurus: Grammy-nominated sarode Maestro Aashish Khan and vocal diva Padmabhushan Girija Devi. Passionate about women’s rights and creativity, she has published numerous articles in journals and books and co-produced and directed four films, documenting her research with socially marginalized musicians in India, which have been screened at festivals and conferences in North America, India, and Europe. She has received multiple awards for her scholarship as an ethnomusicologist (including for her documentary films), as well as musical performance, outreach, and education.
Deeply committed to sharing North Indian music culture, Amie has traveled three continents completing artist residencies, hosting recitals, and conducting all-ages workshops on the music of South Asia, particularly Hindustani music, as well as on world fusion music. Chronicle Polls, seamlessly blends traditional Indian melodies with jazz/world grooves, creating an ever-evolving boundary defying sound. Amie’s musical credits include four CDs (two Hindustani classical sitar and two with her Sangeet Millennium Ensemble), as well as sound tracks in several independent films (among them Cutting Chai Productions’ Clay in 2013, Rhituparna Basu’s The Revolutionaries in 2012, the Nobelity Project’s One Peace at a Time in 2009, Cenozoic Studios’ Nan Wayne & Masala SXSW Trailers in 2003) and theater productions (notably A Modern-Day Vyasa: Jean-Claude Carriere’s Mahabharata in 2013 and 2014).
