Anfang Februar bringt die in Philadelphia lebende indischstämmige Musikerin und Autorin Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, die Lesern unserer Seite vielleicht von ihrer Zusammenarbeit mit Moor Mother (eventuell auch der mit Sonny Singh) bekannt ist, ihr neues Album “Moti Ka Sheher” heraus, das eine Mixtur aus experimentierfreudiger Elektronik, Triphop-Anleihen und Spoken Word-Poetry vereint. Sie selbst beschriebt das Werk als “hologram love note filled with stories of resilience, ancestral transmissions, historical archives, transnational solidarities, and space to breathe and imagine”. Die beiden Tracks “Place of Birth” und “Goddesses and Doormats” sind bereits zum Download erhältlich und mit Video zu sehen. Der Titel bedeutet “Stadt der Perlen” – City of Pearls ist auch der Titel eines Lyrikbandes, den die Musikerin 2019 veröffentlicht hatte und aus dem die Texte des Albums stammen. Das Album erscheint als LP, Tape und digital. 
“The album asks the question how do you live fully and exist in a world where you are told you do not belong and have experienced immeasurable loss?” heißt es im Pressetext, ferner: “Nayeem’s compositions and production are enveloping and subtly propulsive, soulful. Music and words here do not accompany each other so much as converse and intertwine to resonate. Narratively, Moti Ka Sheher uplifts connections to nature, land, life and cultural ancestral transmissions as a means of survival and resilience. These things cannot be taken and are greater than the violence of nation states. It is Nayeem’s hope that in this album, those displaced can find solace and embark on their own journeys towards healing –– with the understanding that to live fully and to exist is a rebellion. The album features collaborations with esteemed vocalists such as Gabriela Riley, Tough Gossamer, Adeeba Talukder and TreZure Empire. 
The results will appeal to fans of Massive Attack and Portishead and Laurie Anderson. [...] Moti Ka Sheher follows Nayeem’s debut album, City of Pearls which featured classical rabab played by award winning composer and musician Qais Essar. Where that record grappled with grief and loss, Moti Ka Sheher looks forward after loss, uplifting the importance of transnational solidarities and alliances, seeing each other despite caricatures and illusions, remembering unseen ancestors and finding power in self while imagining ourselves in a future. The album also uplifts the role of our descendants who picked this time to be, who exist, and continue to live fully. Part of the harm and trauma of genocidal projects is the fabricated story that says communities facing genocide will cease to exist. There are current narratives which say that entire communities and cultures are already erased despite us being fully here.
As genocidal projects unfold, there are also the fabrications that we cannot do anything to stop genocide and that erasure is inevitable. This album is an assertion that we are here, and we will continue to be here despite unfathomable losses, displacements and violence (for any community who is told they do not have a right to exist on this earth). We do live and will live fully and we connect to things much larger than violent systems and states. We focus on life and love. We continue to create and imagine”.
Porträt © Rog and Bee Walker