Shireen in Birmingham mega concert

By A Shahid :

 Shireen Jawad of Panjabi Wala fame announced last week she will be performing at the upcoming Bengali mega concert in Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena in the summer.

Shireen shot to international recognition, found instant fame with her version of the upbeat classic Panjabi Wala, a few years back and led to collaborations with some of the biggest names in Bengali music industry.

While the catchy pop tune brought the vivacious singer wide recognition, her success increased further with the release of songs like Mathwali, Khawaja, Nodi and Chengra Chabiwala from the album Rangeela.  Nodi is a baul fusion song, sang with deep emotion and a  sweet haunting voice befitting the song, it displayed her vocal dexterity and prowess as does the cover version of the Amir Uddin penned masterpiece, Shikaiya Pirithi, Korilo Dakathi.  Live audiences and a crowd favourite both songs are very well received. Incidentally, this baul ballad was to be included in the hit film Monpura if not for contract issues.

The cheery dispositional singer released three successful albums including Rangeela, which came with some of the sleekest music videos from any UK Bengali singers.  Shireen’s confident and bubbly personality showed and she put in a natural and convincing performance in front of the camera. She also wrote the story line for most of her music videos and told a nice story featuring believable characters such as the bored hair stylist dreaming of her Panjabi Wala! The high quality videos are professionally made using the latest production techniques and equipment resulting in the finished video resembling something close to mini feature film.

The globetrotting music star is also very popular in the live music circuit and regularly performs in the UK and Bangladesh as well other far off places like New York, New Jersey, Dallas and other cities in the USA. The success of her songs and albums also took her to places such as, Denmark, Italy, Spain and other European locations where she performed to cheering audiences.

The artiste began singing Bollywood songs from an early age as a hobby. She qualified as a social worker before becoming a professional singer. Shireen was greatly encouraged by her father to learn music and enjoys performing on stage as it allows her to interact with appreciative fans.

Shireen has worked with some of the best producers in the music scene including hit makers Habib Wahid and Fuad Almuktader.  She is currently working on her forthcoming album and will be performing at various shows in the coming months.

The Birmingham concert in August is set to be one of the biggest live Bangla music shows ever staged in the UK. The promoter, 30 year old Farid Miah, a Manchester University educated businessman with a successful career in electronics engineering behind him, has announced an exciting line up of artistes from Bangladesh and UK.  Some of the artistes he plans to bring to Birmingham include Habib Wahid, Nancy, Hridhoy Khan and Kaya plus some UK singers.  The entrepreneur has also said that to fulfil popular demand, aspiring and established UK singers can enter an X Factor type TV show. The ultimate winner will perform in Birmingham alongside the stars of the show.

UK grime artiste Mumzy Stranger and BBC Asian network presenter Nadia Ali will host the six-hour extravaganza at the 15 thousand-capacity arena where pop music legend Sir Paul McCartney is performing to packed audiences.

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