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Sarah Khatami is a young R&B singer/songwriter, with a unique improvisational flair, often influenced by the Persian music she grew up listening to. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As the child of two Muslim Iranian immigrants, Sarah has always had a great appreciation for her freedom to practice and perform music. At the age of 6, Sarah decided she wanted to be a singer.
Sarah’s earliest memory of performing took place on the playground at recess in the first grade. She was quietly singing “Where Is the Love?” by the Black-Eyed Peas while playing four square with her friend Katie, who, unbeknownst to Sarah, was listening intently to her singing. Suddenly, Katie looked at her with wide eyes, and asked, “Where did you get that beautiful voice from?” Sarah just blushed and looked down at her feet. Katie then grabbed her hand and led her to different people at the playground, exclaiming, “You’ve got to listen to Sarah sing!” Sarah started singing again, and eventually, almost everyone on the playground had formed a giant circle around her, cheering her on, and asking her to sing over and over again. Sarah was shocked that she had moved so many people with just her voice. From that moment on, she knew that music would have to be more than just a hobby. In the years following, Sarah did small school chorus concerts, plays, talent shows, and local singing competitions, but it wasn’t until the fifth grade that she started taking professional vocal lessons. The Persian music that she grew up listening to, mixed with the classical music that she learned in her lessons, gave her a strong, solid foundation to build off of for her more contemporary R&B songs. With her newly developed, matured style, Sarah auditioned for and was accepted to Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in 2010. At Lincoln Park, Sarah continued her studies in classical music, and also began studying musical theatre and piano. She had the privilege of performing in many shows such as Emma, Anne of Green Gables, and starred as Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden. Sarah kept her interest in pop/R&B alive by performing solos in Lincoln Park’s annual Jazz/Pop Concerts. Outside of Lincoln Park, Sarah performed at various locations and events around Pittsburgh, such as the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, the International Children’s Festival, and on Saturday Light Brigade Radio. At the age of 14, Sarah started performing songs in Farsi, her parents’ native language. She performed at Carnegie Mellon University’s Norouz Celebration two years in a row, and recorded two songs, “Lezate Parvaz” and “Age Bashi” with a Persian band, 8OX, run by Afshin Eskandari Nasrabad. The summer after her junior year at Lincoln Park, Sarah attended the five-week performance program at Berklee College of Music. This program was a truly life-changing experience for Sarah. Not only did she have the opportunity to take in-depth music classes from Grammy Award-winning professors, and form lasting friendships with talented musicians from all over the world, but she also met several Iranian musicians. Inspired by her Iranian peers, and by her love of Persian music, Sarah joined Berklee’s Balkan/Middle Eastern Ensemble, and, on the very last week of the program, she performed the Persian classic, “Ghoghaye Setaregan” in the Berklee Performance Center. A few days after this performance, Sarah was awarded a $10,000 scholarship to Berklee. In her final year at Lincoln Park, Sarah utilized her newly acquired Berklee knowledge by starting to write songs in English, Farsi, and Spanish; she also began teaching herself to play the ukulele. By the end of the school year, Sarah wrote and recorded two original songs, “Can’t Save You” and “Imagines,” as well as one cover, “Una Flor” by Juanes, which can all be found on her SoundCloud account, along with many other, more recent recordings. The most noteworthy part of her senior year, without a doubt, was when Sarah was awarded an annual full-tuition Berklee City Music scholarship to Berklee College of Music, as well as a full-tuition scholarship to attend the five-week program again. In June 2015, Sarah graduated from Lincoln Park, excited for what Berklee had in store for her. During her second five-week performance program at Berklee, Sarah had the privilege of publicly showcasing one of her original songs, “This Time,” in the Singer/Songwriter Showcase. Since being at Berklee, Sarah has joined the co-ed a cappella group, On the Vox, started a social justice club on campus called “Justice Circle,” and began working at her current job at the West End House Boys & Girls Club, as a private voice, music theory, and ukulele instructor. Working at West End House inspired Sarah to continue teaching, and so, in November 2016, she began volunteering as a Berklee City Music mentor. Recently, Sarah sang and did some Farsi spoken-word on the song “What Child Is This?” for Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center’s 2016 album, “Christmas Time At Lincoln Park,” available on CD Baby. She also recorded a Middle-Eastern inspired version of “America, the Beautiful” for TrackRecord, with four other Berklee musicians, in light of President Voldie’s recent travel ban. Sarah is currently still attending Berklee College of Music as a songwriting major, and is in the process of recording her upcoming EP. Her debut single, “Darkness,” is out now.
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May 2020
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