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For New Orleans-based film composer Sultana Isham, plunging into research on her subject matter is as important as creating her score. Trained as a classical violinist, she moved from her native Virginia to New Orleans to steep herself in one of her passions, the peoples, history and culture of Cr\xe9olit\xe9 throughout the Americas and abroad. Once in New Orleans, Sultana Initially busked in various venues around New Orleans and then started playing with Les Cenelles, an ensemble devoted to Creole folk music and work by composers of color. She began to write her own pieces, and in 2017 she put out her first EP, \u201cBlood Moon,\u201d a mixture of avant-garde classical and pop fusion, attracting the attention of director Zandash\xe9 Brown, who hired her to write the score for the horror short \u201cBlood Runs Down.\u201d Other directors soon came knocking on her door.Director Angela Tucker hired her to be both researcher and composer on the documentary, \u201cAll Skinfolk Ain\u2019t Kinfolk,\u201d a PBS documentary about a historic New Orleans mayoral race between two Black women. Among Sultana\u2019s other credits are \u201cThe Neutral Ground,\u201d which also aired on PBS and received an Emmy nomination for best historical documentary, and the PBS series \u201cMaking Black America,\u201d narrated by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Sultana\u2019s scholarship continues unabated. LSU Press is developing an essay she co-wrote with Dr. Denise Frazier \u2013 \u201cM\xe9mwa Nwa: Agency, Sound and Women in AfroCreole Louisiana Folk Music\u201d \u2013 into a book. A month before this interview, she concluded her residency at Ace Hotel New Orleans by co-curating an exhibit titled \u201cThem Handy Sisters,\u201d celebrating the careers of noted performers and musicologists Dr. Geneva Handy Southall and D. Antoinette Handy.Here, Sultana explains how she developed her musical skills hand-in-hand with her research practice and why heeding her heart and feeding her curiosity continue to open incredible new doors for her.https://www.sultanaisham.com/