Early musical training
Deeyah's father was a music enthusiast and with his musical organisation well under way, he invited classical musical maestros from South Asia to teach music to young kids. He ensured that music becomes an essential part of both his children's upbringing and in 1984 entrusted his seven years old daughter under the supervision of the legendary Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan. Deeyah studied Pakistani and North Indian classical forms of music under the grand maestro who would later declare her amongst his favourites.
Khan was aware of the talent the little girl held in herself and urged her to openly sign in public. The following year, at the tender age of eight, Deeyah made her first performance on national television appearing on the primetime show Halv Sju. She would later perform at various festivals and celebrated as the youngest performer at major music festivals. Khan taught her the intricacies of the instruments used under the Patiala gharana and ghazal, thumri and khyal forms
More about Deeyah (From Wikipedia)
Birth And Ancestry
Deeyah was born Deepika Thathaal, at Ullevål sykehus hospital in Lambertseter, Oslo, Norway to Sunni Muslim parents. The family later moved to Grønland in Sentrum, then to read more...
Early Musical Training
Deeyah's father was a music enthusiast and with his musical organisation well under way, he invited classical musical maestros from South Asia to teach music to young kids. He ensured read more...
Initial Career
Although she had been singing for national television for quite some time charting a couple of hit singles, her talent was finally recognised in 1992 when she sang at the opening read more...
Success And Controversies
She appeared in her first solo concert the same year at Vossa Jazz. Following the success of her first album, she came out with another in September 1995 under contract with BMG/Arista. read more...
Channeling Her Rage
Riddled with death threats and foul comments, the singer decided to travel to Los Angeles, United States of American.[citation needed] Once she reached America, she worked on more read more...
Sisterhood
To further protest against involvement of women of Muslims origins in music, Deeyah came back to the UK and collaborated with some of the rising Muslim stars, all of them women. read more...
As A Women's Right Activist
Celebrating her success and recent works for women against the norms of Muslim tradition, she was asked to contribute more of her music to the cause of women's rights. When she came read more...
Achievements
Deeyah is now considered amongst the very few female students to train under the classical Pakistani music maestro Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Sultan Khan. The former called read more...
Recent Times
In the recent history, Deeyah travelled back to the USA to collaborate with some other musicians on her next album title Ataraxis. Having scrapped all previous material, she worked read more...
Deeyah, born Deepika Thathaal (August 7, 1977 in Oslo, Norway), is a Pakistani-Norwegian singer, composer and human rights activist of Punjabi and Pashtun descent. Born to Sunni read more...