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"Abrahami's impressive compositional world is extraordinarily rich in ideas, textural detail and originality." - Jazzwise, 2010
Biography
Fiona Nehama Abrahami’s journey in music started with piano lessons when she was little, but although she liked to 'make up' little tunes right from the start, her first serious attempt at composing was song-writing for the high school pop-rock band she played guitar and sang backing vocals in. After leaving school at 16 to go to art college in Derby she advanced to playing bass in a jazz-rock band, and in ’77, a jazz-punk band. She also gigged with the East Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra and attended jazz summer school in Milton Keynes where she met Derbyshire-based jazz composer Neil Ardley, with whom she studied briefly before leaving home to go to art college in Hull.
Once at her new college Fiona formed a band with fellow art students playing punky reggae. Then under the direct influence of the Specials (with whom her band’s singer had connections), they joined the 2-Tone movement, toured with the Beat and landed a contract with Polydor, who released two singles by the band. This, in turn, led to an opportunity to work on an album with the legendary Desmond Dekker for Stiff.
In the early 80s Fiona ran an independent record label and produced a number of singles, EPs, and albums by local East Yorkshire bands, including a multi-racial jazz-reggae fusion band she formed with Jamaican, African and Malaysian students from Hull University. In 1984 she moved to London and was involve in many diverse musical projects, including working as a live sound mixer at various venues and as a night club manager in Brixton.
Then came computers!
Planning a return to college to study the then new subject of Music Tech., Fiona took a job in the IT department of a City firm to gain some ICT experience. Weeks turned into months turned into years, and before she knew it she had a whole new career as a technical author and systems trainer contracting internationally for some of the biggest global IT firms like HP and IBM. Though she never gave up composing or playing, her music didn’t get the time or attention she would have liked to have given it.
Divorce, a death in the family and illness caused Fiona to reassess her life and re-evaluate what was important to her. As a result, after living in Amsterdam and Jerusalem for a number of years she returned to the UK and channelled her energies into her music. Now focusing primarily on composition, she aims to blend her eclectic tastes and push the creative envelope. And hopefully, express her ideas through advanced theoretical concepts wrapped in accessible, "pop" aesthetics. She is still an author, though she mostly writes about music these days.
Fiona has a degree level LLCM Diploma in Composition from the London College of Music (Thames Valley U).
Visit her pages on MySpace and Sony's ACIDplanet to hear Fiona's latest un-released new material.