Deeyah Khan

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Deeyah Khan
دیا خان
File:Deeyah Khan.jpg
Deeyah Khan at 25th Session of the Human Rights Council at UN Geneva on 11 March 2014.
Born (1977-08-07) August 7, 1977 (age 46)
Oslo, Norway
Nationality Norwegian
Occupation Film director
Music producer
CEO of Fuuse
Years active 1992–present
Known for Banaz a Love Story
Awards
Website www.deeyah.com

Deeyah Khan (Urdu: دیا خان‎, pronounced [d̪iːaːˈxaːn], born 7 August 1977 in Oslo, Norway), is a Norwegian film director, music producer, composer and human rights defender [1] of Punjabi/Pashtun descent. She is an outspoken supporter of women's rights, freedom of expression and peace.

She is the founder and CEO of production company Fuuse. Her debut film as director and producer, Banaz A Love Story (2012), won a Peabody Award (2013) and won the 2013 Emmy Award for Best International Documentary Film and British Royal Television Society nomination for Best Current Affairs Documentary. In 2015 she made a film where she sets out to find out why the jihadi message has such an alluring hold on young Westerners.In JIHAD, Deeyah meets one of the godfathers of the British jihad, who went abroad to fight, and who preached extremism to thousands of young Muslims across the UK and the West.

She is the founder and producer of World Woman, an annual international festival of art and activism in Oslo.

Deeyah is the recipient of several awards for her work supporting freedom of expression, in 2012 she was awarded the Ossietzky prize[2] by Norwegian PEN.

Biography

Birth and ancestry

Khan was born at Ullevål University Hospital in Oslo, Norway to Sunni Muslim parents. [3] She was given the name Deepika at birth, in reverence of an Indian woman who took care of her mother during pregnancy. She adopted the name Deeyah in 2002. [4] Deeyah has a brother named Adil Khan a public figure in Norway known for his work as a screen and theater actor.

Music training and early career

Khan started her career as a music artist, a singer and stage performer in the public eye in Norway from the age of 7. In the first half of her music career she was a singer and performer of traditional South Asian classical and folk music. She then became a pop star and eventually became a composer and producer of world music.

Khan's father was a music enthusiast. Through his musical organisation, he invited classical musicians from Pakistan to teach music to young people. He ensured that music became an essential part of both of his children's upbringing and in 1984 placed his seven-year-old daughter under the supervision of Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan. Deeyah studied Pakistani and North Indian classical forms of music under him; he later declared her to have been amongst his favourite students.[citation needed]

Khan recognized his daughter's talent and encouraged her to sing in public. The following year, at the age of eight, Deeyah made her first performance on national television appearing on the primetime show Halv Sju. She would later perform at various festivals and celebrated as the youngest performer at major music festivals. Deeyah was also the member of NRK girls choir as well receiving some music lessons with African American soprano Anne Brown. She also spent several years receiving further musical training from Ustad Sultan Khan. Deeyah Khan is among the very few female students to train under the classical Pakistani music maestro ustad Bade fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Sultan Khan.[citation needed]

In her career as recording artist and performer Khan has worked with Jan Garbarek, Bob James, The Police guitarist Andy Summers, Nils Petter Molvaer, David Lindley, Ustad Shaukat Hussain Khan, Ustad Sultan Khan, Talvin Singh, Knut Reiersrud, Nazim Ali Khan, Anders Wyller, Tor Erik Hermansen, Tommy Tee, Steven Fargnoli, Seb Taylor, Novel, Bonecrusher, Liquid Stranger, Masaladosa, Mark Smith, Futility Orchestra, Guy Chambers and Kaya Project

Because music is considered to be a dishonourable profession for women in many Muslim communities Khan faced severe abuse and death threats for several years in Norway. Initially the harassment and condemnation were directed towards her parents.

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I remember my dad having to defend the fact that I was doing music, even as a child. I remember this at eight, nine years old where ... various people come to the house and say, "We don't even let our sons do it, why would you let your daughter do this?".
Deeyah in an interview with David Mattingly for CNN.[5]

Despite the increased pressure and threats of violence Khan's family continued to support her. After being attacked on stage at her own concert and sustained intimidation she subsequently moved to London at the age of 17 to live and work.

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No one came to Deeyah's defence. Not liberal-left or compassionate conservative politicians. Not the BBC or liberal press. Not Amnesty International or the "concerned" artists who take up so many leftish causes. No one cared. To defend an Asian woman from unprovoked attacks by Asian men was to their warped minds a racist or Islamophobic act. Unprotected and unnoticed, Deeyah slunk off to live in an anonymous suburb of Atlanta, and begin the long task of pulling herself together.
Review comments on Banaz a Love Story by Nick Cohen.[6]

Discography

Music producer

Khan has continued to work in the music industry as a composer and music producer.

  • 2013: Iranian Woman (compilation album featuring Iranian female artists)[8]
  • 2013: Echoes Of Indus CD featuring Pakistani sitarist Ashraf Sharif Khan Poonchwala
  • 2012: Nordic Woman (compilation album featuring female artists of traditional Nordic music forms from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. The first release from Deeyah's WOMAN music album series. Produced by Deeyah.)
  • 2010: Listen To The Banned (compilation album featuring banned, persecuted and imprisoned artists from Africa, The Middle East and Asia. As well as receiving critical acclaim the album peaked at number 6 on the World Music Charts Europe and spent months on these charts.[9] Amnesty International in the UK is supporting Listen To The Banned by making the album available through their website end of 2010.[10]

Filmmaker

Banaz: A Love Story

Deeyah has been active in raising awareness of honour killings for several years. In early 2009 she directed and produced Banaz: A Love Story, a documentary film about honour killings. The film received its UK premiere at the Raindance Film Festival in London September 2012.[11] This was Deeyah's first film as a director and producer. It has won critical acclaim and international awards, including the 2013 Emmy award for best international documentary film. The film is being used to train British police.[12]

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If the British look back in 2040 and wonder how their "anti-racist" predecessors tolerated genital mutilation, kidnap and murder, a change for the better will have come about because of the lonely work of women like Deeyah and DCI Goode, not because of anything done by those cowardly little s***s, who call themselves "liberals" today.
Review comments on Banaz a Love Story by Nick Cohen.[13]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Functioned as Notes Type
2015 Jihad: A Story of the Others Director Norwegian Ministry of Arts & Culture Human Rights Award for the documentary Jihad. [14] Documentary
2015 Sisters Executive Producer Documentary
2012 Banaz a Love Story Director and Producer Documentary

Activist

Sisterhood

Deeyah conceived of and founded Sisterhood in 2007.[15] Sisterhood provides an outlet of artistic expression for young aspiring Muslim female artists across creative disciplines. Khan's goal with Sisterhood is to empower young Muslim women by giving them an outlet to express their creativity.

Sisterhood is also widely seen as a network of support for young creative Muslim women in dealing with their problems both culturally and artistically. It involves young Muslim women around the world, especially in Europe and the USA.

Sisterhood projects

Memini

Khan founded Memini in early 2011, a global digital initiative to promote remembrance of victims of honour killings worldwide.[16] Memini was given a True Honour award by UK charity Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation along with several other UK campaigners.

Honour Based Violence Awareness (HBVA)

In February 2012, Khan founded Honour Based Violence Awareness network with Joanne Payton of Cardiff University[17] (HBVA), an international multimedia digital resource centre working to advance understanding and awareness of Honour Killings and Honour Based Violence through research, training and information.[18]

Other activism

  • Khan is a vocal supporter of ICAHK (International Campaign Against Honour Killings).
  • Khan is a supporter of Freemuse's appeal to Turkish Prime Minister standing in solidarity with Ferhat Tunç.[19]
  • Khan is a supporter of the International Coalition for Women's Rights, Manifesto of Liberation of Women in Iran.[20]
  • Khan is a supporter of the "Iran Solidarity Movement".[21]
  • Khan is a signatory and supporter of the One Law For All Campaign (No to faith-based arbitration! No to Sharia family law).
  • Khan is a supporter of and signatory on the "Manifesto of the Third Camp Against US Militarism and Islamic Terrorism".[22]
  • Khan was the judge for Maryam Namazie's One Law For All Art competition along with other judges philosopher AC Grayling, journalist and columnist Polly Toynbee.[23]
  • Khan is the judge for international art competition Passion For Freedom London Festival along with other judges Gary Hill, Sarah Maple and Lee Weinberg.[24]

Awards

Interviews

References

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  10. ↑ Listen To The Banned – Amnesty International UK Shop. Order Online Anytime
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  31. ↑ https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/media/press/2013/Liberty-honours-human-rights-heroes-in-annual-awards-ceremony.php
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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