Najma Akhtar also known as Najma (born 18 September 1962) is a British singer, as well as an actress of Indian and Pakistani Muslim descent [1]. She was born in Chelmsford, England and studied chemical engineering at Aston University, Birmingham: her father, brother and sister are also engineers. In 1984 she won the Birmingham Asian Song Contest, and in 1987 produced her first album. Her unique and distinctive styles range from fusions of jazz with the Indian ghazal, doing updated arrangements of these ghazals (love songs and spiritual songs), along with traditional bhajans, Indian Semi Classical vocals and the occasional Bollywood hit. She also appeared as an actress in theatre plays and several dramas.
Links to Peel[]
Peel had a copy of her Qareeb album in his Record Collection: N and played a track from it on his 06 July 1987 show. It is not currently known whether he played more from the album on his shows, although Peel's colleague, Andy Kershaw was a fan and played her music quite often on his shows.
Shows Played[]
Dil Laga Ya Tha
- 1987
- 06 July 1987: Dil Laga Ya Tha (LP - Qareeb) Triple Earth