"Artistry Tuesday" featuring Michelle Qureshi

July 29, 2019

"Randal's View"

“Artistry Tuesday” featuring Michelle Qureshi

I was first introduced to Michelle Qureshi by some fellow musician friends about 10 months ago. She was one of the few female artists in some of the fingerstyle guitar groups I had joined that often, sadly, seem to be primarily male. Michelle stood out as not only one of the kindest and most helpful members of the groups, but also one of the most talented! Shortly after we met I remember her rather meekly announcing that she had just hit 1,000,000 streams on Spotify! She announced something along the lines of “I know it’s not a lot compared to some of you, but you know, baby steps.” I told her at the time that 1,000,000 streams constituted a pretty big baby! And there is no stopping Michelle who is one of the most talented, diverse, hard-working and prolific guitar artists I have ever known. Michelle is the model of how to succeed: have great natural talent, practice hard, work hard, and you will succeed!

Michelle originally taught herself to play the guitar and then in college switched her major to music and studied classical guitar. It is that combination of self-taught then supplemented with classical training that I believe gives Michelle some of her edge. Guitar artists often quickly fall into one genre or style with a sound that is recognizable and stays within a certain variation of style. Michelle’s music ranges across the board with almost every kind of music that you can introduce a guitar into. Ambient, new age, meditative, folk, solo fingerstyle, and what I call “new age folk”. Michelle does it all and does it all with excellence! 

So let’s talk about some of her music! Most popular on Spotify to date is “Each Good Rain” from her 2017 album “Seventh Wave”. This piece is beautiful “new age” with a beautiful single note descending guitar progression layered on top of a blissful, lush, full background of harmonizing sound. Variations on the theme make this a beautiful, relaxing almost dream-like piece.

The 2015 “Margalla Hills album is full-on folk mixed with a little ambient new-age. “Windflowers” is very short, would be comfortable on any 1960’s or 70’s folk album and is reminiscent of Kate Wolf. “Dancing in the Valley of Swat” brings memories of the guitar of Richie Havens and Cat Stevens (without the voices). Michelle’s love of the ambient shows up in “This Moment” with just enough melody to make it at home on any peaceful guitar playlist. The rest of this full 22 piece album shows a multi-faceted Michelle bursting at the seams to show the world all the music within her. This is my kind of album!

“Prolific” is an understatement when it comes to Michelle’s ability to write and create a large body of work! “Margalla Hills” in 2015 was already Michelle’s fifth full-length album and she hasn’t slowed down! Six more albums since in the last 4 years along with several EP’s and singles in addition! Each one fills a slightly different niche and shows a fully developed artist exploring the ambient, folk and new age genres. One of the many wonderful facets of Michelle’s music is that she refuses to write for the “easy market”; consequently, instead of 2-3 minute pieces that fit our preconceived ideas of what a piece “should” be, Michelle writes, plays, and produces the music in her heart and in her head. That may be a deeply meditative piece of over 7 minutes in length (“Velvet Rains”, “We Were Once Like This”) or the 56 second folky “Windflowers”.

2018 brought “Short Stories” and what I perceive as a deeper, richer sound in an album that sounds like 17 different love songs or at least life songs told by fingers on strings that seem to have an infinite number of stories to tell!

Not to be “type cast”, Michelle followed up “Short Stories” with “Silver Chord” an album of full-on exquisite ambience!

Then “Guitar Sojourner” returned to her folk roots with two of my favorite “Snapdragons” & Sunflowers”! 

Finally “Sage” is just released and is Michelle’s masterpiece to date (as is each new album she has done) and starts with the contemplative “Skipping Stones” showing a slightly more relaxed artist who seems totally at peace and somehow finding the time to enjoy and almost merge with the nature around her. As if, without a care in the world, Michelle knows now who she is and is enjoying that discovery and letting us share in this deep understanding of herself and her tremendous contribution to the music world. If I were to give advice to an aspiring artist in any of the genres that Michelle wades, I would say “take a few days and listen to Michelle’s catalog in chronological progression: This is what you are trying to duplicate in your journey as an artist!”

by Randal L Meek

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2tnTYLzDkug2iNhsBpWmuG?si=x8r0bE0TRfKD5l8KJg85OQ

Appkle Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/sage/1473060116