SHIM NYC’s first resident will be renowned Iranian/Canadian musician, Raam. Raam started his musical career as the singer/songwriter/founder of Hypernova, a post-punk band born in the Tehran undergroundof the early 2000’s. A politically active singer, he joined protests and wrote songs that spoke out against the government. Raam launched his solo career as King Raam in Toronto in 2011 with Songs of the Wolves, a personal and sincere album of love and loss. With the help of Persian poet/author/filmmaker Tara Aghdashloo, who wrote lyrics for the album, Raam expanded his musical horizons singing in his native Persian language for the first time in his career. This was followed by The Vulture(2013), A Day & A Year, and Until a Thousand and…(2017) which was his last album based out of Tehran. In January 2018, Raam’s father, Kavous Seyed Emami, a prominent Iranian/Canadian professor and environmentalist, was arrested and died under suspicious circumstancesin Evin Prison. Raam and his family attempted to flee Iran, but Iranian authorities detained his mother and confiscated her passport. Raam and his brother were allowed to depart, but over a year later, his mother is still being held hostage. During this residency, Raam is channeling his creative energy into a one-man storytelling performance about his family’s experience and his father’s legacy, woven together with his music.