‘Sheherazaad’ translated in Hindi and Urdu means a “free city” which is at odds to her mini-album, ‘Qasr’, which translates to “castle” or “fortress” in Urdu, it was written during a time of family estrangement, grief over a lost elder, and the racial polarisation of her country as she knew it. “It was maddening” Sheherazaad says, “that the music of my origins didn’t yet exist. So I knew I would have to make it.” Born to what she describes as a “fanatically art-centered, Asian-American household”, Sheher began her ear training at home, with both her parents being band musicians and her grandmother a trailblazing Indian classical concert producer. At home, she absorbed the life portfolios of Lata Mangeshkar and RD Burman, while beginning formal voice education in…