Saira Peter

Saira Peter is a British-Pakistani playback singer and founder of the Saira Arts Academy in Karachi. She is known for being the first Pakistani Sufi opera singer.

Biography
Peter grew up in Karachi, the capital of Sindh. A Christian, she first learned to sing in her church choir. She attended the University of Karachi as an undergraduate, receiving a MSc in chemistry, and later received a master's degree in Islamic history from Queen Mary University of London.

Peter was mentored and trained as an opera singer by Paul Knight, a former student of Benjamin Britten, and Rosemary Ashe, and trained in raagdari by Chitrarupa Gupta. She was inspired to combine opera and Sufi poetry by Syed Waqar Hussain Shah, custodian of Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s shrine.

Her debut performance, at the Hotel Pearl-Continental in Karachi, launched her professional singing career. She has since performed at the Mohatta Palace, the Governor House in Karachi, and the Alhamra Art Center in Lahore. Peter has also performed for the High Commission of Pakistan, London on Independence Day of Pakistan. Her debut album Resplendent, a collaboration with Knight, was released March 18, 2017.

Peter was a judge on two seasons of the reality series Voice of Sindh. She teaches and is a director at the Noor Jehan Arts organization in London, which specializes in Sufi music, and founded the women-only Saira Arts Academy in Karachi in 2009. She is currently composing a full-length Sufi opera to be staged in London.

Peter is married to pianist and ethnomusicologist Stephen Smith and lives in London.

Artistry
According to The Express Tribune, Peter's career wish is "to translate Sufi poetry for Western music so they can understand Pakistani people and their desire for peace." Her music has been described as a fusion of Western and Pakistani classical music, performing traditional Pakistani songs with Western-style operatic cadenzas and Western arias with portamentos, or "slid" pitches, more typical of Pakistani music.

Awards

 * IAF Award for Best Music Performance

Discography

 * Resplendent (2017)
 * Raqs-E-Rooh (2018)

Filmography

 * Zarori Tha - 2015
 * Pairey Pawandi Saan - 2015
 * Aao Rana - 2015
 * You Are My Friend - 2015