Biography
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Born In
London, England, United Kingdom
Bishi (Bishi Bhattacharya) is a British singer, musician and DJ. She is a London-based multi-instrumentalist strongly influenced by annual visits to the Ravi Shankar School in Delhi. Bishi was first recognized in 2001 as the central DJ & 'face' of London's experimental underground nightclub, Kash Point.
British born to a Bengali musical family, Bishi started singing when she was two years old. Her mother, an Indian Classical/Traditional singer enrolled her in a musical education. Trained in both Eastern and Western classical music, Bishi started piano and harmonium studies aged six and went on to learn guitar, bass and sitar in her teens. Her musical influences also include English folk and disco.
Bishi began her musical career in The Sound Storm - an improvised electro acoustic performance art troupe led by London night club legend Matthew Hardern AKA Glamorre and his long time collaborator Richard Torry of Minty. Bishi is also characterised by her glamorous and extravagant stage appearance.
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 air." The album, produced by Hardern, was performed in its entirety with the strings of The London Symphony Orchestra in June 2008 at LSO St Luke's.
Bishi attracted critical attention, being nominated for the Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Show Awards.
Also in 2008 she was asked to join a tour of the great voices of British Folk The Daughters of Albion alongside the likes of Norma Waterson and June Tabor. She has toured and collaborated with close friend Patrick Wolf and Roisin Murphy.
In March 2009 Bishi and composer Neil Kaczor were commissioned by The British Film Institute and Birds Eye View Festival to compose a score for the 1923 silent film Salome. The first live performance was rapturously received at BFI South Bank in London.
Bishi's second album, Albion Voice, released in 2012 and again produced by Hardern, moves through many sounds and styles as diverse as punk, baroque, glam and medieval folk, through sonic beats and traditional instruments with layers of vocals. Ideas of nationality, migration and patriotism in a shrinking world are explored taking her experiences as a British Asian as the starting point. The rich sounds and symbolism of Britain as a sovereign nation and ancient Isle provide recurring themes in both lyric and music.
Her third album, Let My Country Awake, released in 2021 on Bandcamp, is a musical setting of a work by Bengali poet and social reformer Rabindranath Tagore.
Media appearances include the BBC's Culture Show and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.
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