Adham Shaikh

Note: This is an in-person gathering. To register for the online Zoom version, please click here.

For October's gathering we will explore creativity through the thematic lens of 'ETHOS' and are excited to showcase Juno Award-nominated music producer, composer, sound designer, and DJ, Adham Shaikh, who will not only share his story, but he will be performing live for us!

Adham Shaikh is a Emmy and Juno Award-nominated music producer, composer, sound designer, and DJ who brings his uniquely powerful global sounds to the world stage and screen, not to mention many a crowded dance floor.

Adham has scored original soundtracks for numerous film and television productions, including National Geographic (Emmy nomination), Sacred Planet (Disney Imax), Velcrow Ripper’s Fierce Light (National Film Board, Fierce Light Films), Rainbow Jaguars’ Earth Pilgrim, The Edge of the World: BC’s Early Years (Knowledge), and Secrets (CBC’s Passionate Eye, Make Believe Media), for which he received a Leo Award for Best Musical Score in a Documentary Program. His music has also been licensed to an extensive list of media productions, including BBC Orphan BlacK , Suzuki Speaks (Avanti Pictures). Look out for his latest original work on the upcoming program 940 Caledonia.

Shaikh skillfully weaves organic and electronic sounds into global music tapestries that take listeners on sonic journeys transcending time and place. He has released 16 albums and many individual compositions, among them the 2004 release, Fusion, which was nominated for a Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) in the World Music category and Universal Frequencies (2010) which won best album ( BC Independent Music awards). Shaikh also co-produced and mixed the award-winning debut CD for global fusion group Delhi 2 Dublin, Produced the last two Buckman Coe albums and has finished re-mixing tracks for internationally renowned artists Nickodemus, Deya Dova, Kaya Project, Tripswitch and David Starfire, Delhi2Dublin, Desert Dwellers, Eccodeck, Issa Bagayogo, Ganga Giri, and the Footsteps in Africa Project (Turag remix).

As usual, we asked Adham some probing questions to augment his biography as a glimpse into his life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?

On some level I try not to define it but put myself in service of it. In the daily pursuit of the joy of making/creating things. The hunger to create new musical landscapes that no one has heard fuels a lot of my musical endeavours. In the daily dynamics of problem solving and working with what is available to get the results. I love experimenting and exploring. I enjoy looking for patterns in disparate musical things and seeing if they can be combined. Creating musical maps of inner worlds.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

In my bathtub! And then In my studio. I have created a space that is cozy and quiet in the forest where I feel inspired and am able to work uninterrupted for long periods of time. Jumping in the river brings me inspiration and energy and I can channel that back in my studio.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

That it's simply a matter of doing it. Start the journey. Sit down every day and make something. Whether it's a sound or a beat or a riff or a whole song. It's the act of sitting down and setting the intention to do something. It's amazing what comes along when you are in the act/practice.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Or Rick and Morty creators Justin Roland and Dan harmon.

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?

Smoking pot.

What are you reading these days?

"In the Blink of An Eye" by Walter Murch.

How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?

I'm an interstellar traveller collecting sacred vibrations for the intergalactic jukebox at the centre of the universe.

Where was the last place you travelled?

Tar Desert in Rajasthan India.

What was the best advice you were ever given?

Don't look back (creatively), just keep going forward it's a journey, not a destination.

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck?

I go jump in the river.

What are you proudest of in your life?

My children.