Artist biography
Described as “refined, imaginative, and gorgeous” by Beehive Candy, performer-composer-producer Shelley Thomas (voice, oud, percussion) draws inspiration from Balkan, Arabic, Hindustani, Classical, Pop-Soul and African music styles in her compositions to create a new genre called World Chamber Pop. With cinematic arrangements and inspired emotive power, she interlaces diverse threads of culture through a rhythmic, poignant examination into the human condition.
Recognized for her extensive multicultural experience and attention to musical nuance, her depth of study and sensitivity have allowed her a rare breadth of styles including folk, pop, jazz, classical, traditional and improvisational world vocal arts. She has been featured in Audio Femme, Women in Music, Elephant Journal, and KCRW’s Rhythm Planet among other press outlets. Her work pushes the boundaries of musical archetypes in a reverent, spiritual and progressive aesthetic.
She has crafted her own unique style by syncretizing methods absorbed from different genres of musics which she studied extensively for sixteen years with over forty teachers. She has taught workshops, recorded, performed and toured internationally with world-class artists including Black Sea Hotel with Yo-Yo Ma, the Knights, Kronos Quartet, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus; Simon Shaheen, Hassan Hakmoun, Bassam Saba and the New York Arabic Orchestra, Bulgarian Voices Trio, Brooklyn Raga Massive, AlSarah and the Nubatones, Yael Deckelbaum, Adam Maalouf, Jebebara Unity Drum, Innov Gnawa, and Mayssa Karaa. She has performed at venues and festivals including Moscow Conservatory, Lincoln Center, MIT, Joe’s Pub, Pioneer Works, National Sawdust, Vancouver Island Music Festival, and Abu Dhabi Festival at Emirates Palace.
Past highlights include recording with Residente at Electric Lady Studios; being featured on Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad Ensemble’s GRAMMY-Winning album, Sing Me Home; performances in Morocco, Sweden, Denmark, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Cuba, UAE, Lebanon, and across the U.S.; interview on MJ Dorian’s Creative Codex Podcast; and soundscape vocals for Panorama Festival’s 360 ARK Dome. Performances include Mediterranean Jazz Fest, the Bowery Electric, Rockwood Music Hall, Toronto’s Drom Taberna and Small World Music Center, The Sonic Jungle, Ecstatic Dance NYC, Alex Grey’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, Ragas Live Festival, Lund Choral Festival, Stallet Stockholm, BRIC, Le Poisson Rouge, SoFar Sounds, Alwan for the Arts, Yale Repertory Theater, Havana World Music Festival, Mexico’s Cumbre Tajin Festival, Prototype Festival, Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, and Fete de la Musique Beirut.
Shelley produces and releases her original songs and music videos with Symphonic Distribution. She received a BFA in World Music from California Institute of the Arts, and studied Mixing & Mastering with 343 Labs and Music Production for Women. She was a Commissioned Composer for Boulder-based Parlando School for the Arts and has taught with Canada’s Folk Camp, One World Brooklyn Kids Chorus, Music To Your Home and others, in addition to private coaching. She attended Artist Residencies at Canada’s BANFF Centre (Persian & Eastern Traditions Program) and Vermont’s Avaloch Music Institute, and attended the Arabic Music Retreat for seven years. She was a recipient of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts’ Development Grant, and has won grants from Musicares, Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, and Redline Contemporary Arts Center among other organizations.
Current highlights include releasing her new critically acclaimed single and video, “Our Love Was Art”; being selected in the Composer Spotlight for the ASCAP-Columbia Film Score Program; participating in CBCA’s Advancing Creatives Intensive Cohort in 2022; feature in Melodic Magazine; signing with Assemble Sound for sync representation; recieving a scholarship for Muiscares’ Key of C Workshop in Nashville; and completion of The Music District's Sync Workout, a ten-week sync program for select artists. Shelley is also a tarotist, astrologer, and photographer. She lives in Weehawken, NJ and is currently releasing new music videos and her EP “Broken Open” which she wrote and produced. www.shelleythomasmusic.com
“Lush orchestral arrangements guide you through a sonic journey to the beautifully haunted side of yourself...world music magic”
-Audio Femme