Women from the Asian Subcontinent, WOW - Women of the World Festival

WOW Festival showcase international and local women’s art and culture in a series of high profile and local performances, events and workshops.

This powerful line-up includes ghazal singer Najma Akhtar, controversial bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam, pioneering Asian underground DJ Ritu, Indian violinist Jyotsna Srikanth and cross-cultural ensemble ShivaNova.

NAJMA AKTAR
Najma Akhtar has been recognised by her work as a pioneer in using subtle jazz arrangements with the traditional South Asian vocal ghazal style. Following her unique and distinctive sound, Najma has inspired a new generation of musicians and composers to move into the fusion genre. Along with her fusion of subtle jazz nuances, Najma also performs Pakistani/Indian semi-classical, folk, sufi, bollywood, Indian underground, trance, along with the odd English song.

She has also appeared as a performer on stage and in songs and videos of other international famous singers/songwriters, such as the MTV No Quarter/Unledded performance with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page on the Led Zeppelin classic "Battle of Evermore", jazz vocalist Nina Simone, recording with Basement Jaxx, guitarist Andy Summers (The Police), Jah Wobble, and jazz and rock saxophonist Stan Harrison. Najma has also worked with saxophonist/flautist Michael J. Parlett.

TAHMIMA ANAM
Tahmima Anam was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1975. She was raised in Paris, New York City, and Bangkok. After studying at Mount Holyoke College and Harvard University, she earned a PhD in Social Anthropology. Her first novel, A Golden Age, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Costa First Novel Prize, and was the winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. It was translated into 22 languages. Her writing has been published in Granta, The New York Times, and the Guardian. She lives in London.

DJ RITU
East London born DJ Ritu began her career as a Pop music DJ in 1986. She was head-hunted by new global beats club ASIA in Islington, which propelled her into the World Music scene. Working alongside African expert David McAlmont (later McAlmont & Butler) and Rai & Latin aficionado Don Tyler, she quickly fell in love with music by The Bhundu Boys, Chaba Fadela, and Sierra Maestra. Gaining in reputation as a ‘bhangra expert’ she began touring abroad in 1991, often the first DJ to introduce Indian sounds in many countries, while guesting at legendary global music clubs in the UK such as The Mambo Inn.
?In 1994, she co-founded Outcaste Records, and signed Nitin Sawhney and Badmarsh (& Shri). She instigated Club Outcaste which was frequented by Bjork, Goldie, & Talvin Singh, and compiled the label’s first two Asian Underground CDs. Also resident at the UK’s first ever weekly bhangra, R&B, and drum & bass night, Bombay Jungle, she became a bedrock of London’s club scene.

SHIVANOVA
ShivaNova is one of the West’s leading cross-cultural ensembles, grounded in Indian and European styles, widely admired and enjoyed for the energy and flair of its improvising. It tours nationally and internationally, playing in London at the Jazz Café and the South Bank Centre, and has released a catalogue of CDs, most recently Secret Chants which has been acclaimed in the national and music media.

Now established over many years, ShivaNova has been constantly developing thanks to its improvising musicians and its founder’s vision of a creative force that went beyond everyday fusion. During the 1990s dance beats went into the mix – an offshoot called SugarNova had a hit in the club charts with Over and Over. In recent seasons ShivaNova has toured with dancers and visual projections, and has also created cross-artform programmes like Bananas which featured the Gandini Juggling group as well as carnival artists, storytellers and visual artists.

PRITI PAINTAL
Priti Paintal is well known on the UK scene as composer, performer, music producer and promoter. Born in Delhi, she joined a family that included musicians trained in both Indian and Western traditions alongside eminent scientists and doctors. She studied piano and composition in India and moved on to York University, the Royal Northern College, and the Institute of Education. She soon established herself writing for leading British performers and has based herself here ever since, increasingly focusing attention on her ensemble ShivaNova. Her music brings together traditional, classical and jazz performers in a unique mix of Indian roots and contemporary flair.

JYOTSNA SRIKANTH
Europe’s leading violinist from the south Indian Carnatic classical tradition, Jyotsna Srikanth is also an accomplished western classical musician who’s collaborated with acclaimed jazz, film, western classical and contemporary music artists.Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth started learning music from her mother Vidushi Smt.Rathna Srikantiah from the age of five. She then learnt violin under Sangeetha Vidyasagara Sri.R.R Keshavamurthy, the living legend of seven stringed violin. She gave her first performance at the tender age of nine. She is an all rounder who has given various solo concerts, jugalbandhi concerts, jazz - fusion concerts apart from accompanying all the stalwards in Carnatic Music like Dr.Balamuralikrishna.