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 ceremony for Norway's TV2 in front of an audience that included Åse Kleveland, the then Minister of Culture and the Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. Following this, she was taken on as a student by the esteemed Ustad Sultan Khan. Khan would later appear with Deeyah on her first solo album I Alt Slags Lys. She was only fifteen when she released the album under the Norway-based independent recording giant Kirkelig Kulturverksted. The album was a fusion of Pakistani classical sounds with modern influences and featured many a prominent ustads including her mentors. She also collaborated with Knut Reiersrud, Reidar Skår, Paolo Vinaccia, Audun Erlien, Ustad Sultan Khan and Ustad Shaukat Hussain Khan from Pakistan. From the beginning of her career Deeyah has been called a limitless and ground-breaking artis
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...