Tempo Magazine got to chat to Thea and Liana Shengelaia, the twins behind the group to talk about their origins, favorite genres and Indo-Jazz fusion.
Tempo: Who are the HT and what kind of music do they play?
Thea: HT (Healer Twins) is an experimental project with sessional musicians led by twins from
Georgia (Country) Thea and Liana Shengelaya. From October 2013 to April 2015, we’ve been
working Indo-Jazz fusion with Indian classical vocalist MulkrajGadhvi and we still are working
together on different projects. Right now one of the regions well-known musician Kamal Musallam is
producing our first original single ”Snake In The Desert”, written by me. It will be released in mid July.
We are aiming to make very surreal and interesting music for the people and combining our medical
background with music that we produce. We always believe that science and arts can be friends. 🙂
Tempo: Where did the name healer twins come from?
Thea: We’ve been called Twin BruneTTes before I came up with more relevant name ”Healer Twins”
just 4 years ago, when we (Liana and Thea) graduated medical school in Georgia. I thought since we
graduated medicine we have to relate medical background to our music. Also, my name Thea is a
Greek name and its one of the meanings are ”healing power”. It appears quite catchy to public and
we are happy with it. Even Star Wars fans are now blogging and writing articles all over the internet,
wondering who we are, since we were on the set at Star Wars Episode 7 shooting in Abu Dhabi in
May and it’s quite a pleasant shock for us. So I strongly believe that the band name does play a huge
role, as well as the style.
Tempo: Have you performed in public?
Liana: Yes, many times, we’ve been performing since age 9 in public, at school, during our medical
school on some festivals, concerts and so on and since we moved back to UAE we’ve been
performing at Music Room (many times), The Fridge, QuozHappening, DIFC art nights, Music festival
”Fete De La Musique” by Alliance Francaise, for Freshly Ground Sounds at Gulf Music Festival and
Sikka 2014, for AUHDIO in Abu Dhabi and Open Mic in B- Lounge Abu Dhabi and so forth.
Tempo: Your music is about fusion between jazz and Indian music tones; do you ever mix it up
with other genres?
Thea: Yes we do – we are very open to interesting ideas in music, for instance few days ago we
recorded a Georgian song fusion of folk and western beats with a musician/producer from London
Charlie Wallace, which will be released soon.
Tempo: What are your favorite genres?
Thea & Liana (Vocal): Jazz, folk, Cassical, Rock, Indie, experimental, blues, alternative rock, art rock,
hip hop, electronica.
Mulkraj (Harmonium/vocal): Classical Indian, Jazz, Blues, Alt Rock
Tempo: What do you do besides sing?
Thea: Acting and training in medicine.
Liana: Same like my twin, but I sometimes do fashion designing as a hobby.
Mulkraj: I am a music producer.
Tempo: What do you need to be successful as a band?
Thea: Passion, mission, motivation at first and then hard work, good knowledge of marketing and a
little luck.
LISTEN TO OUR MUSIC HERE: https://soundcloud.com/healertwins
