We were lucky to catch up with Maham Suhail recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Maham, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you’ve thought about whether to sign with an agent or manager?
I have a German sync agent in Berlin (I’m on the Piranha Arts label sync roster). I have a virtual manager in UK: She is a co-founder of this superb Music management & artist development platform, HyperTribe, and is helping me with Artist Development & Branding strategy.
Additionally, I am with a London-based agency as a Singing/Vocal coach, and joined another one as a Voice actor.
With Frank, my sync agent, who is also the VP Chairman of Piranha Arts, I’ve had a working relationship since 2017, when I went to Berlin for the very first time, invited by the Music Board Berlin as part of the Goethe Talents’ Scholarship residency program. Frank offered to bring my sync catalog to their roster, a little after I moved to London.
Kimmy from HyperTribe, I was introduced to by a Londoner Indian friend with a big network.
As I have come to understand Music Business over the years, and especially more so since my time at Berklee College of Music (Valencia), and as everyone knows, the Entertainment industry is relationship-based, even more so than other industries. Certain conversations take some time to translate into professional terms, which was the case with Frank and I, though we always had a good, flowing interaction from the get-go.
With Kimmy, the work bit started from the moment I shared some work with her after getting introduced via our mutual contact.
I personally have huge respect for these two: They are thoroughly professional, but with empathic hearts and pristine clarity on what need be done. As a general principle, when I choose to work with someone as my team, it’s not only the reference bit that counts, but a couple of conversations with the person unfolds to me our mutual vibe.
I think that these two, in turn, chose to work with me because they found me a dedicated artist, having seen my journey and profile, and they identified that I needed support & guidance in the capacities in which I’m working with them.
I am, though, in search for a local music booking agent/promoter, to help my new live act book gigs in the UK and Europe, since I moved to London just late last year on my Global Talent visa basis.
Maham, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a bilingual poet, Soul-Jazz-Electronica vocalist, cross-genre songwriter, and Creative Educator & Producer.
I moved to London (England) on a Global Talent visa.
I was, since childhood, singing songs, writing Poetry, playing the Melodica & the Piano at school.
My journey in professional music started back in 2015 when I started performing and recording music for release. At this point, I was singing Sufi Folk poetry & composing in Raaga & World Beat forms mostly. My first-ever studio recording experience: a couple of Baul-Jazz Fusion pieces titled ‘Harr Darshan’ & ‘Harr Ka’ , was in Kolkata (India) in early 2016.
My debut music release is ‘Sajjan Yaar’, a Folk-Pop track that came out in 2017, and later became the opening track on my travel compilation album titled ‘Mitti’.
Jazz-inspired World & Alternative Fusion have always been dominant elements within my sound, and the latest track I’ve released last month, titled ‘Sadaa’, is a Trip Hop vibe. Its music video is coming out on 24-08-24, and this sound marks a new era in my music career. I am putting my new live act together currently, to launch soon in London.
I have been producing and in addition to performing, I am now also composing for sync media, with my latest sync license being an instrumental track for a Canadian series.
I offer private, one-on-one vocal/singing coaching. I also offer songwriting/Composition for various Media, and I teach and facilitate workshops in Arts & Music.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I believe that the feat of achieving my Global Talent visa, entails a story that prides itself on resilience. From the first time I seriously considered the possibility of pursuing a Global Talent application to the point that I got in, there were multiple challenges to overcome. I had only started considering London in early 2020, as the next city to call home after my Berklee Music Production Masters in Spain.
To begin with, there were barely any people around me, who believed that I would be eligible for this visa (not to forget that most of this handful of folks didn’t even know at the time, what the significance or criteria of the ‘Global Talent visa’ are!).
I didn’t care: in any case, many folks in that part of the world will give you unsolicited advice by default; and that too, being projections of their own limited imagination!
I already had some credentials as international awards and media recognition to my credit. Since these were already some of the supporting evidence samples the application needed; I just kept adding on top by producing, performing and publicly publishing more work, to my best understanding of the application’s eligibility criteria.
Later, I came to the UK to research and network for the visa application, and to assess if I had an eligible enough profile for a chance of success at it: There was still a lot of ambiguity involved at this stage, owing to the speculations of the solicitors I consulted. This was already late 2022-Jan. 2023. I was originally supposed to fly back to Pakistan in Dec. 2022. But when one of the 3 high-profile industry figures who later gave me a recommendation letter was available only in early January for a meeting, I postponed my flight! I had a feeling that I must pursue him: a spontaneous decision which fortunately, proved right!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One lesson that I had to unlearn (and I guess which I’m still unlearning), is to gauge my criteria differently, when choosing which genre to identify with for my artistic identity. This decision plays out in various capacities, including the producers I work with; the venues and events I play, and the media coverage that I target for my promotional campaigns.
I guess, one of the challenges of being a post-genre artist & songwriter is the target marketing challenge that comes along with this genre-bending aesthetic. And this very challenge is reflected in my current, ongoing efforts to re-brand my image and sound, triggered by my latest release titled ‘Sadaa’: https://open.spotify.com/track/1XgkyDTtRYNCb9QMV330dX?si=54699d6f1f7647a1
The music video for ‘Sadaa’, a Trip-Hop, Soul-Pop track, is planned to release on 24-08-24.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.maham-suhail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maham_suhail_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MahamSuhail16
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maham-suhail-01554b167/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MahamSuhail
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/maham-s
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4HJ21OjtMdgkgXAuwrSx9b?si=X8TdviRHQauuEcq6_Pm2Dg
Image Credits
Image 1: Saurabh Kajrewal
Image 2: Zubair
Image 3: Berklee College of Music Valencia
Image 4: Ammar Siddiqui
Image 5: Roni Ayala
Image 6: Asif Khan/Rolling Stone India