Hear world's 'most beautiful voice' in Frome

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Press Release Published: 7 July 2008
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Sheila Chandra
Saturday 12 July
St John's Church , 7.30pm

World music diva Sheila Chandra brings her enchanting voice to Frome.

In a rare solo performance, the Wells-based singer appears at St John's Church on Saturday 12, from 7.30pm.

Described by one music critic as the 'most beautiful voice' in the world, Chandra uses the voice and drone method to produce a global sound.

After a gap of 14 years, the singer returned to performing live last year. Her appearance at the Frome Festival will be one of only a handful of solo gigs that she has performed since returning to the stage. 

Chandra created Asian Fusion in the 1980s with Monsoon, the first British Asian band to have a top ten hit, with Ever So Lonely . In the 1990s, she released three albums on Peter Gabriel's Real World label.

In 2001, Billboard stated: 2In the past five years a new round of second generation British Asian Musicians have emerged - all owe a debt to Sheila Chandra's pioneering work.2

A year later, she performed the song, Breath Of Life in an Elvish language, with Howard Shore , for the soundtrack of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

Her latest project with Imagined Village has seen her work with Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, Benjamin Zephaniah, Chris Wood and Eliza and Martin Carthy. Imagined Village explores traditional music and the English identity through song, story and rhythm.

Tickets are available from the Festival Box Office on 01373 455420.