Namrata Shah is a Kenyan-born soprano currently based in London. She trained at the University of Leeds, Leeds College of Music and Associated Studios and has also spent time as a Lecturer at the KM Music Conservatory in India. Here, she reflects on the various cultural strands that have intertwined to form her musical identity and reveals her passion for working with musical charities and organisations in her homeland of Kenya.

I grew up in Kenya where I was exposed to three different communities at once – the Kenyans, the Indians and the British. All three had their own cultures and these formed a part of my identity growing up. As a child I moved seamlessly from one to another. I was just as comfortable at home in a harmonium lesson taught by my grandmother as I was singing Stabat Mater in choir at an Easter Service at school. Moving between these cultures felt easy and natural, but I’ve only recently realised that the cultures themselves never really intertwined. At home we spoke Gujarati or Swahili; English was reserved for school. The three languages would not mix.

I quickly learned the contexts where I was ‘Indian’ and those where I was not. It was an unseen, unheard and untaught learning of sorts, which guided me in fitting in to Kenyan society. I distinctly remember the first time I felt comfortable showcasing Indian music at school in Kenya. Thanks to a brilliant music teacher, Sally Clark, I was encouraged to bring in my harmonium and sing the ragas I had been learning. It was an important moment for me in breaking down cultural barriers - the idea that the home was the only place I could express my Indian identity was slowly disappearing.

In 2006 I went on to study western classical music at Leeds University, where I was one of a handful of non-white students on the course. I was already overwhelmed as I had just moved countries and I felt slightly alien. Nevertheless, I quickly developed a love for opera – in particular the idea that stories could be enhanced with the power of the human voice. I put aside my Hindustani singing until I began my Masters in singing at Leeds College of Music. I found myself drawn to Spanish Art Songs. If western classical music could draw on the folk styles of different European cultures, then surely there was a space for Indian poetry and musical ideas to also be incorporated into western classical styles.

In 2012, I took up a post teaching voice, opera and lecturing in music at KM Music College in Chennai, India, founded by the famous ‘Mozart of the East’ A. R. Rahman. The students were fantastic and most of them had trained in Carnatic or Hindustani classical music prior to enrolling. They would spend three years with us at the College before completing their degree in western classical music in London at Middlesex University. The speed at which they learned to read western notation and got to grips with music theory was astounding. It was exciting to be part of a learning process that was designed to be culturally collaborative from the outset. I would use Bollywood songs to teach the students how to recognise intervals for western classical aural exams!

Every day was exciting and I had some of the best times creating and directing shows for my students. One highlight was setting a medley of A R Rahman’s songs for choir and percussion in collaboration with the amazing Dr Adam Greig. This was such a comfortable and happy period of my lift – so many parts of my identity had come finally come together. The gap between my western music education and the culture I grew up with at home no longer seemed so large. I truly began to believe that both cultures could co-exist at the same time and in the same place.

On moving to London in 2015 I began training with the vocal teacher Sally Silver, who continued to widen my musical horizons. She introduced me to everything from a Punjabi orchestral song by composer Naresh Sohal to Bizet’s Pearl Fishers. At this time, opera houses in London become more accessible to members of the BAME community and started to cast more authentically in terms of race. Though there is still much work to be done in this space, this felt like an invitation to a party that I previously couldn’t quite find the correct dress for.

Returning to performing opera after having children in 2019 and 2021 was daunting, but I was lucky to have been involved in several projects that allowed me to break down cultural barriers. Performing in R’Otello and RingGafa by the Samoan director Sani Muliaumaseali'i was a true cultural collaboration, incorporating elements of Samoan culture such as a love of Rugby, dance, costume, and mythological narrative. Each rehearsal felt like a celebration and invitation to be authentic, which is especially important as a new mother.

II experienced a similar confluence of cultures whilst working with opera singer and producer Rhoda Wilhelmsen in Kenya with Baraka Opera Trust. I enjoy giving back to the country I was raised in and I feel blessed to have met creative and inclusive music leaders such as Rhoda who have similar goals. We created stories incorporating western classical and Kenyan songs and performed them in Indian costume in primary schools. The Trust also ran workshops in a village school curating performances with Gujarati Dandia and Garba dances. The level of enthusiasm for learning and sharing new cultures was phenomenal. It is heart-warming to have been involved in this melting pot of cultures in my home country, that seemed so rare when I was growing up there.

I am now based in London, auditioning and studying with the wonderful Anita Morrison whilst raising my two children. London’s myriad of cultures never fails to excite me. I am so glad my children will grow up in a world where organisations like the Third Culture Collective exist. Their cross-cultural events present a true reflection of the world we live in. It will be a big change from the one that I grew up in where the outside world did not reflect all the parts of who we are internally.