Sheila Chandra

As a singer, Sheila Chandra's one of the best. An adventurous spirit, someone who's pushed the boundaries of the voice, as well as looking back to the drone, one of the deepest, most basic sounds. After a long layoff, she's back.....

Apart from Moonsung, her ‘best of' album - which did include two new tracks, there's been little heard of Sheila Chandra since AboneCroneDrone in 1996. While she's never been the most prolific artist, that's still quite a while away. You have to wonder what happened.

"I developed throat problems, severe throat problems that went undiagnosed," she explains. "I had chronic rhentis, but all I was experiencing was a weird set of symptoms that nobody could find any cause for. It was getting more and more distressing, and more and more painful, and getting to the point where I couldn't pitch properly, which isn't very good for a singer. Fortunately, last year someone caught it, and I had an operation to correct it."

You might think that would be that, and all would be well again; but it's never quite as easy as that.

"My voice came back fifty per cent after the operation," she says. "But I'd been using it so badly because of the problem that I needed to retain it. So now it's back about seventy five per cent, and going the right way."

"It's time to start working on the melodies"

For those who've missed her singing, she has been back in the studio, and even on the concert stage. At both WOMAD UK and WOMAD USA, she appeared with Afro Celt Sound System, joining them for their last song of the night. And she's been recording with the Ganges Orchestra.

"I've done a couple of Eps with them, one to come out Autumn ‘99, and other in Spring 2000. It's a good way to break out of the voice and drone box that I've been in for this decade I haven't spent as long within a form before, and this is a good way to break out. They're very experimental, and they're very fast, punk ethic - by fast I mean done very quickly. And it's been very exhilarating. Steve [Coe, her musical and life partner] have been listening to a lot of Japanese noise, and I think it's great."

There's also a new Sheila Chandra album on the horizon, although it might take a little while yet.

"I haven't been able to do much because of my voice, but I have been able to work on the lyrics. It's time to start working on the melodies. But publicizing Moonsung and getting my voice back has taken time. Steve won't be producing, for the first time. He thinks he's been spoiled by all the drone work, and he doesn't fancy all the laborious layering- up stuff. So I'm looking to work with another producer, but I'm going to wait until I have all the material right first Real World is a brilliant place to connect with people; you're within two phone calls of anybody. I think in the next couple of years there'll be a new album, and probably through Real World again."

As they say, it won't be a moment too soon, either.....

Sheila Chandra

"It's time to start working on the melodies"

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