TjR

TJ Rehmi is a critically acclaimed artist known for his creative and innovative approach to composition and production work. 

His unique style of music has inspired many discerning listeners from around the world.

As a guitarist, composer and producer, he has been a  pioneering  figure who experimented with technology & Asian sounds, working with bhangra artists and then as part of the ‘Asian Underground’ movement.

 

During the early 80’s, Rehmi studied and played guitar with local funk, rock and reggae bands before joining Saxophonist Andy Hamilton’s Jazz band. A few thousand chops later and with guitar in hand, he explored the burgeoning bhangra scene as a session player and soon was in high demand.

 

Rehmi became interested in recording and started producing and arranging for some of UK’s top bhangra bands from the mid ‘80s to the early ‘90s. Touring with these bands also gave him the opportunity of visiting other countries such as America, Canada, Germany, Holland, Denmark, France and Dubai, providing an ever-growing musical fodder.

In the early 90’s, Rehmi went back into education to study Education and Music at Birmingham City University/Birmingham Conservatoire where he had the opportunity to study composition and play guitar with Indo Jazz fusion composer John Mayer.

 

After a short time in the teaching profession, Rehmi went back into music full time and became heavily involved in studio recording. He began to incorporate all of the sounds, rhythms, and styles he heard into his own music and found himself getting more and more into technology. Progressing from tape machines to computers, he eventually designed and built his own studio space which developed into a music production hub aka the MoodLab Studio.

Retreating underground into a studio-hideout, Rehmi concocted symphonies of sound with old and new recording equipment. His 1996 appearance on London’s Nation Records with the track 'is it legal' was met with great acclaim. It was followed with his debut E.P’s THE FUSIONIST and SKRUTINIZER in 1997, and then his critically hailed 1998 debut album MINDFILTER, the 1999 follow-up, MERA THERAPY, then RAAG DIGITAAL in 2000.

Then followed a publishing deal with Peter Gabriel’s Real World Works and album INVISIBLE RAIN in 2001 for US label Shakti Records (Narada/EMI) and, in 2004, THE WARM CHILL for New York label Dharma moon. In 2009, Long Tale Recordings re-packaged the Warm Chill album with new artwork and re-released it as the Axis of Ignorance album.

 

In 2011, Long Tale released the album Inventions from the Mood lab and the latest album aRrivaL - unreleased from the last century was made available in 2016 on Khoob Records, and as the title suggests, it's a retro and fresh sounding compilation of unreleased music from the 90's!

Remix work includes for the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (RealWorld), Natacha Atlas (Nation), Trilok Gurtu (Time Square), Shaukat Ali (OSA), Mumiy Troll (from Russia) and DJ Cheb I Sabbah (Six Degrees).

And Rehmi has also played his music at venues across the world … including fashion shows in Paris, Art exhibitions and clubs in London, performances at Glastonbury festival, the Eden Project for Womad, festivals and concerts in Spain, Switzerland, Austria and New York ... and much more.

 

Recently, Rehmi has been collaborating with renowned artist Paul Kenny, creating a sound track for a 12 minute visual artwork that gradually transforms & seamlessly shifts through a spectrum of colours, revealing the final scene before fading into the sea & darkness. The work 'Strandline' has been scheduled for exhibition at art galleries in Ireland and the UK. 

 

The latest news is the completion of a composition titled Midnight in Sparkhill for an album of various artists commissioned by the Birmingham 2022 festival that is running alongside the Commonwealth Games. The track will also be included in his long awaited album Eight Grains of Sand to be released this year.