'Taraanah' in Urdu means harmony, symphony or a song, so I thought it was quite appropriate as World music is one of my favourite genres.

It's completely turned the industry on its head. Music is now autonomous: it's been given back to the performers in a global community that everyone can share, from beginners to professionals. Long may it continue.

I have been producing music as Stephanie M for some time, but as I am working in so many different genres I decided to have my world music, classical and ambient tracks under a separate name.

My ambient/electronic influences are widely varied - as a teenager I started to listen to synthesisers properly for the first time when a schoolfriend introduced me to the wonderful world of Walter (now Wendy) Carlos with some amazing performances of Scarlatti, along with Keith Emerson's pyrotechnical playing with Emerson Lake & Palmer. There were some great pioneers and players of synthesised music in the 70s and 80s - it was a great time to be around when it was all starting to develop. Brian Eno with his boxes of switches and wires on stage, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark with their machine (which they named Winston !) back in their early days. My passion for synthesised and electronic music has been constant down the years - Kraftwerk, Isaio Tomita, John Foxx and Jean-Michel Jarre are just a few on my list of favourites - and not forgetting the wonderful experimental sounds of Delia Derbyshire ! And if anyone can point me in the direction of music by Tonto's Expanding Headband, let me know. I've only ever heard one short extract of their music and it's haunted me ever since !

PC based. Software of choice is Making Waves as I create a large proportion of my music with midi. Also use random loops/samples (most of which I mangle beyond recognition to get the right sound). Keen to experiment with a more organic way of creating music by eventually getting a new bass guitar and some keyboards.