Zaheed’s artistic journey began in the Jamatkhanas of Calgary, where he developed a passion for Ginans at a young age. His love for Ginans allowed for recitation opportunities, and for a chance to learn more about the diverse intellectual, musical, and artistic traditions – along with their interplay and evolution – across the rich history of the Ismailis. Much of his artistic endeavour has sought to explore and bridge these traditions through contemporary forms.
His formal musical journey began in high school, where he sang tenor for the award-winning Western Canada High School Chamber Choir. He toured across Canada as a member of the Canadian Ismaili Muslim Youth Choir from 2007 – 2010, which included performances at the Opening of the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat (2008) and the Foundation Laying Ceremony for the Ismaili Centre Toronto, the Aga Khan Museum, and their Park (2010). He began exploring song writing during this time and was a founding member of the Calgary-based hip hop trio The Chai Wallahs, whose fusion of rap, pop melodies, and traditional elements created a unique sound and vehicle for sharing messages of positivity and hope.
From 2010 to 2011, while living in London, UK, he was a member of the Ismaili Community Ensemble (ICE) and was the founder and executive producer for Songs for Peace (2011 – 2014), a fundraising initiative that brought together 39 Ismaili artists from around the world. Together they produced 42 tracks across three compilation CDs, and through their sales raised $40,000 for the World Partnership Walk. Zaheed was also part of the musical ensemble that performed at Aiglemont, in Gouvieux, France to commemorate Mawlana Hazar Imam’s 80th Birthday in 2016.
He has been a regular contributor to, member of, and performer with Calgary-based dandia-raas band Kashish, as well as the devotional ensemble Tasmiya which was selected for the Jubilee Arts Canada National Festival and featured as part of Salim-Sulaiman’s global Diamond Jubilee tribute, Jubilee Mubarak.
You might recognize some of Zaheed’s work from Ismaili TV or Friday Night Reflections, where he is often seen or heard alongside Ismaili artists from across Canada and around the world. While his story began more than 15 years ago, much of his work has been in the spotlight since March 2020, which marked the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic. He has written, co-written, or helped coordinate artists around the world to help mark Navroz, Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Laylat-al-Qadr, and to help recognize the incredible work of frontline workers and volunteers during that time.
His work is often multi-lingual, with eastern and western influences, integrating several genres but united by contemporary sounds and messages of positivity. He has performed live across Canada (including with Salim-Sulaiman) and in Europe, and collaborated with hundreds of singers, musicians, dancers, and creatives from more than 60 countries. His projects are known for their scope, stories, unique sounds/visuals, and non-traditional collaborations – all with the hope of celebrating the diverse artistic traditions and legacies of Jamats around the world while seeking to exemplify what it means to be part of One Jamat across time and space.
This aesthetic began to take form during the year of Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Diamond Jubilee, and was most evident with his first national collaboration Aaya Mawlana, and his first international collaboration One Jamat, all of which sampled or drew inspiration from the historic tradition of Ismaili Geets, devotional songs that often took the form of contemporary music and sounds from their respective eras. For example, his first Diamond Jubilee release Mubarak Mawla sampled music and lyrics from Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah’s Diamond Jubilee (1946), as well as the Silver (1982) and Golden (2007) Jubilees of Mawlana Hazar Imam.
Zaheed was one of the writers of the Canadian Diamond Jubilee touring production Rihla: From Roots to Dreams, which sought to celebrate the uniquely diverse and interwoven journeys of the Canadian Jamat through drama, music, dance, and multimedia. He also helped co-lead a workshop on A Capella singing at the Jubilee Arts International Festival and was selected to present at the inaugural Jubilee Arts Film Festival (both in Lisbon, Portugal in 2018). Here he shared how the audio and music video were produced for Aaya Mawlana, a Diamond Jubilee Tribute to Mawlana Hazar Imam that brought together more than 60 artists from across Canada. The Jubilee Arts International Festival sparked several large-scale collaborations including All Work No Words (the official song to commemorate 100 years of the Ismaili Volunteer Corps) and most recently, Ameen: A Global Prayer of Hope. His work has garnered over 2 million views across social media platforms.
Zaheed views song writing as “a vessel through which we have been able to express our gratitude, our aspirations, and our hopes as a community.”
Zaheed completed a combined Master’s in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, UK and his MD and PhD (Health Services Research) at the University of Calgary as a member of the Leaders in Medicine Program. He currently lives in Toronto, where he is a resident physician in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.
Check out more of Zaheed on his social media channels:
Navroz Mubarak Song
Maah-e-Ramzan (Extended English Version) - Jishan Ali Thobani and Zaheed Damani
Ameen - A Global Prayer of Hope
All Work, No Words - Official IVC100 Song
