Sheila Chandra, Weaving My Ancestors’ Voices

Album of the Week, August 22, 2026 Sheila Chandra had a career arc: actress on the BBC drama series Grange Hill, lead singer in the band Monsoon, top 20 UK hit with “Ever So Lonely.” Then her label wanted her band to drop its Indian influences. She quit the band, went deep into traditional music until she came out the other side, blending influences from traditional British folk music—or, as she notes, “many of the vocal ornaments that are used in British folk are also used in Indian music… And I became interested in the crossover point between those influences.” She made records in isolation, having retreated from live performing, until she decided it was time to return, and spent time at Real World Studios during a recording week in 1991. That experience may have helped her decide to take the new record she had just made, with just her voice and a drone—so she could perform the material live, completely by herself—and license it to Real World Records for distribution. The approach…