{"title":"Sheila Chandra","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSheila Chandra is a writer and retired English vocalist and actress of South Indian descent. She now coaches creative professionals and has written two guidebooks for improving organizational skills.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChandra first gained fame as a teenage actress on the British teen school soap \"Grange Hill\" playing the character Sudhamani Patel between 1979 and 1981. Her future husband and musical partner, Steve Coe, discovered her talent when he found one of her demo tapes in a box at Hansa. He was looking for a vocalist for his Asian fusion band Monsoon at the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMonsoon's debut single, \"Ever So Lonely\", recorded when Chandra was just 16 years old, reached #9 in the UK charts in April 1982. However, subsequent singles had less impact and she left the group by the end of that year. Chandra went on to release four solo albums with Indipop before retiring from music at the age of 20.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1991, she made a comeback with her fifth solo album called \"Roots and Wings,\" where she began experimenting with drone-based music. This marked a new direction for her work in the '90s, including three albums released under Real World Records. These albums fused Arab, Andalucian, Celtic, Indian vocal styles with even older traditions like Gregorian plainsong. Additionally, Chandra performed live for two years during this period.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"weaving-my-ancestors-voices","title":"Weaving My Ancestors' Voices","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis pioneering Asian singer explores the territories of her spiritual ancestors. An intensely beautiful album celebrating the first and ultimate instrument – the voice.   These re-issues provide a chance for listeners to (re)discover the work of Shelia Chandra, one of the most original and trailblazing artists of her generation.\u2028 Sheila Chandra’s 1992 debut album for Real World, \u003ci\u003eWeaving My\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eAncestors’ Voices\u003c\/i\u003e begins a trilogy that cements her as one of the most accomplished musicians of her generation. Chandra finds the common ground between vocal traditions, to embody the timelessness of the human voice. With this one ubiquitous instrument, she proves to us both the universality of its capacity to express human emotion and the uniqueness of her personal vision. Her self-expression has the capacity to move listeners as much now, and long into the future, just as radically as it did upon its first release. Includes a reinterpretation of Chandra’s first hit and the seed of her boundary-breaking career, 'Ever So Lonely.' All formats have updated artwork, including new sleeve notes. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Real World","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50483239977291,"sku":"2023229","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50483239420235,"sku":"2023228","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Weaving_My_Ancestors_Voices_cdcd0c39_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1727563287"},{"product_id":"abonecronedrone-2","title":"ABoneCroneDrone","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eABoneCroneDrone\u003c\/i\u003e is Sheila Chandra’s most radically experimental solo voice work and the closing chapter of her trilogy of albums for Real World.  These re-issues provide a chance for listeners to (re)discover the work of Shelia Chandra, one of the most original and trailblazing artists of her generation. \u2028\u2028Six tracks of pure voice and drone, playing as a seamless suite of encompassing ambience and whispered vocals hinting at the worlds within them, \u003ci\u003eABoneCroneDrone\u003c\/i\u003e gives voice to Chandra’s creative world, viewed through the harmonics of the drone. It is a listening experience that attunes us not only to the music contained within the record but to the music of the world around us. A startlingly original examination of the usually taken-for-granted  drone itself. All formats have updated artwork, including new sleeve notes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Real World","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50490666123595,"sku":"2023231","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50490665894219,"sku":"2023230","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/ABoneCroneDrone_94ebf522_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1727669903"},{"product_id":"the-zen-kiss","title":"The Zen Kiss","description":"\u003cp\u003eTo hear Chandra’s work is to realise that the voice is the purest expression of human emotion; the closest instrumental connection to our bodies.   These re-issues provide a chance for listeners to (re)discover the work of Shelia Chandra, one of the most original and trailblazing artists of her generation. \u2028\u2028The compositions on The Zen Kiss have an added poignance when encountered today. They are both a snapshot of an innovative singer at her highest performative power, as well as a record of an ineffable sound that has yet to be replicated, and likely never will. When we drop the needle on \u003ci\u003eThe Zen Kiss\u003c\/i\u003e we reach ever-closer to that special moment of Chandra giving voice to her innermost music, to her communion between the singer and those of us being sung to. ”I lend the listener my unwavering presence and present-moment attention, my understanding of the musical forms I’m working with, and my skill. But they lend me their hearts.” All formats have updated artwork, including new sleeve notes. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Real World","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50510593065291,"sku":"2023234","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50510592541003,"sku":"2023233","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/The_Zen_Kiss_1e6ab00d_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727877163"},{"product_id":"echo-5","title":"Echo","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSheila Chandra’s\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eEcho\u003c\/em\u003e is likely her final album: a moving set of live performances whose title nods to the Greek nymph who lost her voice, just as Chandra did 15 years ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA shy and infrequent live performer, \u003cstrong\u003eChandra\u003c\/strong\u003e knew many fans never got the chance to see her in concert. This collection offers a vivid sense of her remarkable solo voice performances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawn from an extensive search through every concert, TV and radio session recording she made, these are the finest versions of songs largely taken from the first two albums in her 90s solo-voice-and-drone trilogy, reissued on vinyl for its 30th anniversary in 2023.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlso included are two songs from her fifth solo album \u003cem\u003eRoots and Wings\u003c\/em\u003e, where she was refining techniques later heard on \u003cem\u003eWeaving My Ancestors’ Voices\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Zen Kiss\u003c\/em\u003e, plus a final track from the first \u003cem\u003eImagined Village\u003c\/em\u003e tour in 2007.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Real World","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":57919796969803,"sku":"R2897-8979","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/RW273SheilaChandraECHO_3000px.jpg?v=1784724933"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_d380e301_thumbnail_4096_ea097c16-0a0b-4548-a5cc-ad7872813442.jpg?v=1727563257","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/sheila-chandra.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}