Born in London to a
Bengali family, musician, artist and performer Bishi was classically trained in piano and received voice training in both
Hindustani and Western Classical styles. Her mother, Susmita Bhattacharya, is an acclaimed classical Indian singer and expert in the music of
Rabindranath Tagore. Bishi received training in the
sitar under Gaurav Mazumdar, a senior disciple of
Ravi Shankar. Bishi's panoramic exploration of vocal music has reached as far as singing with The London Bulgarian Choir and drawing on ancient English folk music to exploring the extended techniques of
Meredith Monk. Bishi began her musical career in The Sound Storm – an improvised electro-acoustic performance art troupe led by London night club legend Matthew Glamorre and his longtime collaborator Richard Torry; two of the original members of
Leigh Bowery's performance art band, Minty. Whilst in her teens, she helped initiate various cult queer London nightclubs such as classical music soirée The Siren Suite and Kash Point, as an artist & DJ in residence. With creative partner Matthew Hardern, she has released two albums in collaboration:
Nights at The Circus and
Albion Voice. Her first album
Nights at the Circus was described as "Falling somewhere between
M.I.A. and
Simon and Garfunkel via a stint at
music college," with Bishi being hailed as "a welcome breath of hair." The album was performed in its entirety with the strings of the
London Symphony Orchestra in June 2008 at
LSO St Luke's. Also in 2008 she was asked to join a tour of the English female singers 'The Daughters of Albion' alongside the likes of
Norma Waterson and
June Tabor. She has toured and collaborated with close friend
Patrick Wolf and ex-Moloko singer
Roisin Murphy. She appeared on
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on Friday 3 October, singing "Never Seen Your Face". Media appearances include the
BBC's
Culture Show and
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. She has attracted critical attention and was nominated for the 2008
South Bank Show Awards – the 'Times Breakthrough Award'. Bishi is characterised by her glamorous and extravagant stage appearance. Her stage commissions and live collaborators have included the London Symphony Orchestra, the
English National Opera, the
Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the
Whitechapel Gallery,
Joanna MacGregor,
Nico Muhly, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson. She appeared as a guest at the live premiere of
Double Fantasy for
Yoko Ono's
Meltdown at the
Royal Festival Hall in 2013. Bishi's live performances explore interactive multimedia and film.
Albion Voice was featured in
Julien Temple's film
London The Modern Babylon.
Dia Ti Maria, featuring The Kronos Quartet, won best soundtrack for the
Manish Arora film
Holi Holy at ASVOFF 6: A Shaded View on Fashion Film 6. Bishi featured as a vocalist in Richard Grayson's video installation 'Nothing can Stop us Now,' which consisted of the song "Stalin Wasn't Stallin", made famous by
Robert Wyatt, arranged by composer
Leo Chadburn. In 2018,
National Sawdust commissioned Bishi to compose and premiere a new piece in New York for the opening of The FERUS Festival, which culminated in
Bishi: The Good Immigrant, a song cycle composed for voice looper, sitar and electronics, co-produced with composer and sound artist Jeff Cook. The song cycle was inspired by
The Good Immigrant, a collection of essays edited by
Nikesh Shukla. Other musical collaborators have included Anat Ben-David, with Bishi appearing as a vocalist in her opera
Kairos. She was also one of the final collaborators of the Labour politician
Tony Benn, who contributed spoken word to the single "Look The Other Way". Bishi has also contributed Vocals to the Sean Lennon-composed soundtrack for the film ''Ava's Possessions
and played sitar on the album Daphne and The Golden Chord'', by
Daphne Guinness, produced by
Tony Visconti. She has recently supported opera punk-chanteuse Kristeen Young and
Wolfgang Flür of legendary electronic music pioneers
Kraftwerk. She has also collaborated significantly to a number of pieces by composer Neil Kaczor, most notably "In Sleep", commissioned by the Science Gallery London. She arranged Shakespeare's
Sonnet 43, "When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see", for 13 voices. The live presentation utilised the sound of Bishi's brainwaves, recorded from a session conducted with the Evelina sleep clinic, at Guy's Hospital. In 2016, Bishi was commissioned by The Old Church, in Stoke Newington, to make music in response to an interactive wind harp, created by Output Arts. The result,
Winds of Fate, has now been released a digital EP. In March 2021, she performed "Don't Shoot the Messenger" on BBC Radio 4's
Loose Ends. Bishi's third album 'Let My Country Awake' was released in 2021 on Gryphon Records. ==Discography==