Samia Mahbub AhmadA Brief Biographical Sketch and picture:
submitted by the artist
Samia Mahbub Ahmad finds her musical roots in more than two decades of training in Hindustani classical vocal music. She draws her inspiration from the guidance and support of her gurus Sri Tapan Kanti Baidya (Bangladesh) and Vidushi Sumitra Guha (India). A disciple of the Kirana Gharana, Samia began her talim with Sri Tapan Baidya in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1984. Since 2000, she has been under the guidance of Vidushi Sumitra Guha in New Delhi, India where Samia continued to deepen her knowledge of the Kirana Gharana but also developed a base in Bhajans (spiritual compositions rendered in different languages such as Sanskrit and Hindi).
Drawing on her classical base, Samia has over the years also focused on Nazrul Sangeet, receiving formal training from Sri Tapan Baidya, Begum Fatematuz Zohra and Begum Sadia Afreen Mallick. Samia recently produced and released a Nazrul Sangeet album in India, Srijana Chhande, which celebrates the diversity of the Rebel Poet. This album is available at the following sites:Samia has performed live and on television in Bangladesh, India, South Africa, and the US since the early 1980s and has received several awards and recognition in the process. In South Africa, Samia worked with one of its premier musicians, Ismail Mohamed, to produce Braids, an album that marries the sounds of traditional African instruments with the depth of Hindustani vocals.
In her singing, Samia has been exploring the notions of unity in religion. In a major solo performance in India at the High Commission of Bangladesh, she mixed qawaali (Sufi compositions), bhajan, and lalon geeti (spiritual compositions of Bengal) to explore the notions of spiritual unity in religions that share a common cultural base.
Samia also enjoys conducting workshops on theories and applications of Indian classical music. She has undertaken workshops in South Africa, India and the US. These include lectures and live demonstrations underlying the intricacies, nuances and specific characteristics of ragas and how these are manifested in pure classical as well as semi-classical and folk music. She also teaches music to students from Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia.
Samia has also been part of different panels of judges for various Hindustani Classical Vocal music competitions. The most recent one was at the 22nd South Asian Music competition held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in November, 2005.
Samia has a Phd in Demography from the Sociology Department at the University of Maryland, College Park. She recently moved back to the Washington DC area with her family after nine years in South Africa and India. Samia is married to Dr. Junaid Kamal Ahmad, currently with the World Bank, and has two children, Irum and Abraar.Email: samia_arum@yahoo.com