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As a music artist, Nabihah has made her prolific work rate look effortless with a resume as varied as her musical output. She studied an undergraduate degree in History and Ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, before going on to do an M.Phil in History at Cambridge. After this, she pursued law, passed the Bar and whilst being on the path towards a fully-fledged law career, her profound passion for music pulled her in another direction (much to her parents’ dismay at the time).

Since then, Nabihah has released six records, including two studio albumns on the esteemed UK-based label Ninja Tune. She has toured around the world extensively, and performance highlights include Glastonbury Festival in the UK, Sydney Festival 2024, MoMA PS1 in New York, the K11 Art Institute
in Shanghai and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. She has also had the pleasure of performing at
London’s landmark cultural institutions: both the Tate Modern and Tate Britain, the Barbican,
Southbank, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Serpentine.

Nabihah is one of the longest-running residents on the iconic London radio station NTS, and she is also a frequent host across the BBC, having presented shows on Radio 1, Radio 3, Radio 4, 6Music, and the World Service. She has also contributed to podcasts for Bloomberg, the Serpentine and the Art Fund.

Aside from focusing on her music and radio, Nabihah’s artistic output has a strong inter-disciplinary
element and she has collaborated with Chinese artist Zhang Ding, been commissioned to compose music for the Turner Prize, collaborated with Wolfgang Tillmans as part of his Tate Modern exhibition and was involved in a group performance at the Barbican as part of its major Basquiat retrospective. She has also contributed to Serpentine's recent book '140 Artists' ideas for Planet Earth', edited by Hans Ulrich Obrist and has given guest lectures at the Royal College of Art. In 2023 Nabihah was appointed as guest director of England’s largest multi-arts festival, Brighton Festival, in 2023, her “biggest, most challenging and exciting curatorial position” to date. She is currently working on her first classical commission - a piece for string quartet which will be premiered across the UK in Spring 2025.

Nabihah sits on the board of trustees at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London and also for Hand Of, a UK-based charity that provides musical education for disadvantaged children.




Scroll for Press and Timeline



Press

KCRW 
‘Best of 2023’


PICCADILLY RECORDS
‘End of Year Review 2023: Top 100 Albums’


ROUGH TRADE
‘Staff Picks: Best of 2023’


RESIDENT ADVISOR 
‘Nabihah Iqbal's shoegazey new album is both deeper and dancier than we're used to’


NORMAN RECORDS
‘Dreamer’ album review


THE GUARDIAN
‘Nabihah Iqbal: Dreamer review – between dream pop and the dancefloor’


THE QUIETUS
‘Dreamer’ album review


LOUD AND QUIET
‘Dreamer’ album review


10 MAGAZINE
‘10 Questions with Nabihah Iqbal as she releases her sophomore album, ‘Dreamer’


THE GUARDIAN
‘The 10 Best Global Albums of 2020’


THE GUARDIAN
‘Nabihah Iqbal: The London musician who got locked down in Pakistan’


DAZED
‘My name is Nabihah Iqbal and I make guitar music’


PITCHFORK
‘Weighing of the Heart’ album review


THE GUARDIAN
‘Nabihah Iqbal: 'What's the point of being me if I'm going to keep quiet?'’


HUCK MAGAZINE
‘Music needs more 'undefinable talent' like Nabihah Iqbal'


FREUNDE VON FREUNDEN
'Nabihah Iqbal shakes off expectations of what it means to be an Asian-British musician'





Timeline


June 2023: Co-comisssioner of Art Night Dundee. 
May 2023: Guest director of the Brighton Festival. Find out more here.
April 2023: DJ set at Printworks closing season. Find out more here.
April 2023: Release of second album, ‘Dreamer’. Find out more here.
July 2022: Event curator for Nocturnal Creatures at Whitechapel Gallery. Find out more here.
June 2022: Part of the curation team for the first ever Pakistan Boiler Room. Find out more here.
Feb 2021: ‘The Whole Earth Chanting’ – collaborative project with artist Libby Heaney working with Artifical Intelligence sound – live show is coming soon. Find out more here.
Jan 2021: Joined ICA board.


Dec 2020: Live performance at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Watch here.

Dec 2020: Discussion on ‘Nightlife Architecture’ at the Design Museum, London. More here.

Nov 2020: An exploration of Jimi Hendrix’s record collection at his flat in Mayfair, London. Watch here.

Nov 2020: Release of ‘Blue Magic Gentle Magic (lost songs)’ – a collection of tracks which were salvaged following a burglary of Nabihah’s studio. Listen here.

Nov 2020: Release of ‘Chalo’ compilation, featuring ‘Is This Where It Ends?’ by Nabihah Iqbal. Listen here.

Sep 2020:
Mini doc about making field recordings in nature, in collab with The Face Magazine. Watch here.


Feb 2020: Hosted an episode of Music Life on BBC World Service. Listen here.  

Feb 2020: Live performance of film score at Royal Northern College of Music, as part of Video Jam.
Feb 2020: Discussion about William Blake’s creative legacy at Tate Britain, London. Read here.

Feb 2020: DJ set at Printworks, London.

Nov 2019: Glory To Sound takeover of Skate Lates at Somerset House.
Nov 2019: Live performance at Café Oto, in association with Bagri Foundation.
Nov 2019: DJ set at V&A Museum, Dundee.
Oct 2019: Japan DJ tour.
Sep 2019: South-East Asia DJ tour.


Sep 2019: DJ tour in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Aug 2019: North America DJ tour.


Aug 2019: Interview with SOPHIE for Glory To Sound. More here.

Aug 2019: Russia DJ tour.


April 2019: First show on BBC Radio 1, covering for Benji B.

April 2019: Live session for KEXP. Watch here.


April 2019: Interview with Gilles Peterson for Glory To Sound.


April 2019: Campaign for Merrell – mountain-hiking in South Africa and making field recordings. Watch here.

March 2019: DJ set at Art Dubai.


March 2019: Soundtrack for ‘TRIGGER WARNING’, a film by Superflux Studio. Watch here.





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