Nabihah Iqbal

Many musicians like to speak of versatility, but Nabihah Iqbal has better grounds than most. She boasts an MPhil (focused on African history) from Cambridge, experience working in human rights law and a black belt in Karate. Formerly known as Throwing Shade, she’s ditched that moniker to embrace the name she was born with. Readying her debut album for Ninja Tune, ‘Weighing of the Heart’ is a big statement in two ways: first, because she’s taken her real name to stand proudly as a female British Asian artists making music and, secondly, because she’s moved her music in a bolder, more expansive direction.

Discussing the change in name, she explains how she’d grown out of her previous alias. “I chose the Throwing Shade name in 2009 when I was just DJing at parties, unaware of a possible music career. It was a name for the scene at the time,” she says. Having had worries when she was growing up about teachers mispronouncing it, there’s a confidence which underpins both that decision as well this project as a whole. “The change to my real name feels like moving forward,” she states. “It feels like the right thing to do.”

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