BMA Magazine – Gig Reviews: Shameem, Cherie Kotek Lane

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So I was surfing Google and I found this BMA Magazine review of my Canberra tour show by accident! What a nice surprise…

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 At The Basement, Friday February 20

Been to The Basement lately? The venue’s makeover is gobsmacking, with the old décor, including the big spider, replaced by a flash look with autographed guitars and LPs on the walls. While still supporting metal fans, the venue now embraces a wider range of genres. Instead of bone crushing beats and ragged screams, tonight’s show engulfed us in a wave of funk.

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Trilogy “House Concert” crowd funding reward

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I performed a “house concert” in an office, as a reward for the Special Sponsor of my album The Second City, Trilogy Advertising and Marketing. It was a really lovely evening, with Trilogy’s employees, contract workers and network of contacts enjoying lovely nibbles and drinks and a chance to catch up. I also performed for them a song that I wrote them as part of their crowd funding reward, entitled “We Do It Right”.

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“Give Me A Reason” lyric video

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I made this lyric video with beautiful black and white photos donated by some awesome people who responded to a call out on my Facebook  page! “Give Me A Reason” is a heartfelt, very personal song on my new album, The Second City. Thank you to Clem Bailey, Hiro Ugaya, Todd Wilkinson and Sophie Brown for the use of your photos, you rock!

Baha’i Blog – The Second City: An Interview with Shameem

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Mostly I’ve been featured on music blogs, but this time I was featured on Baha’i Blog! Check out my interview here.

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Over 12 years ago while visiting Perth, Australia, I met an amazing young Baha’i who was singing her heart out at the Baha’i Centre of Learning there. Her name was Shameem, and even though she was only in high school at the time, it was immediately clear that this enthusiastic and talented young singer, songwriter and musician was really going places with her music!

Now on her third album, and with a bunch of awards under her belt, Shameem continues to bless the stage and the airwaves with her wonderful soulful sound.

I recently caught up with Shameem again to find out more about her and her music:
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Why “The Second City”?

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One pet question that I get whenever I’m doing an interview for a radio station, blog, streetpress or magazine is, “So, where does the title of your album The Second City come from?” So many people ask that question that I thought it would probably make for a good blog article, and that way I could take my sweet time explaining it, and not feel the need to rush to keep time available for other interview questions, haha.

So there’s a song on the album called “Chill in The Fire”. You can read in detail about the meaning of the lyrics in “Chill in The Fire” here, but the point is that it’s inspired by a Persian mystical work by Bahá’u’lláh called The Seven Valleys. The Seven Valleys is a highly poetic book describing the journey of the soul, using the imagery of travelling through seven valleys to explain ones spiritual journey. In the opening section it reads, “The stages that mark the wayfarer’s journey from the abode of dust to the heavenly homeland are said to be seven. Some have called these Seven Valleys, and others, Seven Cities. And they say that until the wayfarer taketh leave of self, and traverseth these stages, he shall never reach to the ocean of nearness and union, nor drink of the peerless wine.”

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The lyrics of “Chill in The Fire” are inspired by the second of these seven valleys, or seven cities, which is called The Valley of Love. I’m particularly enchanted by the imagery and language of that chapter in the book. So, since that song is inspired by the second valley/ city, and because this is my second album, I thought “The Second City” would make an apt title for the album. My second choice for the album title would have been “Beautiful Soul” (the title of the first track on the album), but I like the mystery behind “The Second City” more. Plus it gave me the excuse to have the album photoshoot with the skyline of my beautiful hometown, Perth city, in the background.

You can check out a lyric video that I made for “Chill in The Fire”, using photos from The Second City photoshoot, here. The album is available for purchase on iTunes or BandCamp.

Under One Sun with a full choir!

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Here’s a tiny snippet of me rehearsing “Under One Sun” with the New Era Baha’i Choir… I was a guest artist for a show that they put on in honour of their late founder and conductor (and a good friend of mine), Greg Parker, and we performed this song together at that concert. I get goosebumps whenever we sing it through, because of all the vibrations of so many voices singing in four-part harmony coming at me from behind… it’s pure awesomeness.

Hidden Treasures 2015

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Recently I performed at the fantastic Hidden Treasures festival… the west end of Fremantle is brought to life every Thursday night in July with an array of bands, artists, and DJs taking over four (normally quieter) venues. It’s such a lovely festival and is cherished by the Freo locals, who flock out despite the cold, wet weather to be warmed up by the music! Thanks Rachael Barrett for these photos, love ’em!

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“Chill In The Fire” lyric video

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Hi everyone! I made a little lyric video for the song “Chill in The Fire” from my new album, The Second City. The song features the beautiful Persian chanting of Shidan Toloui-Wallace, and this lyric video is set to the photography of Katey Manuchehri. Enjoy!

The Voice Magazine – Music review: The Second City

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Very humbled by this glowing review from Canadian blog, The Voice Magazine!

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It’s not often that I am instantly a fan of a musician. I typically need a few songs to decide whether or not I like them, and if I decide that I do it is usually because they do something different, use elements that I like, or are inspired by something more than pop culture.

With the first note that Shameem sang, I was instantly a fan. Not only is her voice soft and sultry, but her lyrics are full of truths, experiences, and wisdom. She even shares her inspiration for her songs on her website, which I absolutely loved.
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Live performance on Pirate 88 Radio

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Last week I did an interview and live performance on Pirate 88 Radio, to plug our upcoming show at the Hidden Treasures winter concert series in Fremantle. It was a super fun interview, talking a bit about where I’m at with my music now, having just released an album and toured nationally and done shows in Canada… and there’s live solo performances of “Beautiful Soul” and “Give Me A Reason” in amongst the chatting. Video highlights are above and the full audio is below. (click on the title of this post if you can’t see the video window above)