FAC Insights: Breaking Barriers: BISHI's Journey Through Art, Music & Advocacy
FAC Insights is a forum for us to showcase and share long form pieces looking at various parts of the music industry and the society that shapes it. Pieces take the form of videos, interviews, discussions, articles and more.
We’re back with another FAC Insights, and this month we are thrilled to hear from British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and FAC Board Member, BISHI.
I’m BISHI, an artist, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and performer. I’ve been independently releasing music for the last 17 years on my label, Gryphon Records. I came up as an artist, and a professional DJ in queer nightlife at 17 and as a session musician at aged 15. I started releasing music in the dawn of social media when the industry was baffled by musicians who put themselves out there authentically online. I also came up as an artist at a time when there were no mainstream conversations around women, women of colour, people of colour, queer people, trans people or any of the discourse around how class affects careers in the creative arts. Queer artists and artists of colour were actively asked to tone down their self-expression for fear of alienating audiences and not selling records.
The meetings with record companies and management, I attended, usually centered on how to make me more palatable, by hyper-sexing up my image, which women and femme artists are disproportionately put under pressure to conform to. I was told repeatedly that there was no interest in South Asian people in this country, and that it would be hard to sell me to a white audience. These were the general opinions of that era of the UK music industry. In a post-9/11 world, one had to take discrimination on the chin.
The projects and commissions I did receive came from the art world, the fashion industry, technology spaces and support from independent musicians themselves. They would invite me to open for them on tour, perform at their festivals, showcase and collaborate with them in the studio. I was also supported by the classical contemporary community, the folk music world, alt indie and underground queer club spaces from where I started as a DJ.
The brush-off from the mainstream UK music industry was the beginning of my true path as a 21st-century art musician. People often ask me how I manage and how I can carry on independently and, if I’m honest, it’s both a difficult and a continuing journey that I’ve taken over the past 17 years. Many Millennial and Gen Z artists take on at least three or four projects to make our careers and livelihoods tick. It’s a privileged few, who get to do one project at a time.
I have deep gratitude for all the opportunities presented to the doors that continue to open. As a child of first-generation immigrants from India, I did not expect this path to be anything less than challenging. The lessons that I learned from my immigrant background, and the queer and indie scenes I’ve partaken in since my teens, were to grow community at the forefront of all projects, to build strong relationships, and to be a fan of your friends and fellow artists. These principles have given me an extraordinary life.
The underground venues, bars and spaces in which I was allowed to DJ, perform and hone my craft have sadly shut down or disappeared. The ecosystem is forever shifting, but I’m anxious for all artists and musicians that the spaces are being taken away and not enough is being done by our government or authorities, to help protect the spaces that nurture talent up and down the country. I worry that Gen Z artists are being primarily trained to be content providers for international corporate technology platforms, rather than being given the chance to hone their craft by more organic means. I’m concerned
with the rising costs of touring and financial barriers preventing people from lower-income backgrounds from entering the industry at all levels. I’m worried about the cuts in arts funding, which has given marginalised artists such as myself such an important lifeline to realise artistic ambitions and projects.
However, I do have great faith in the ability that creative technology gives artists. For all the problems and challenges that social media presents, I’m floored by the range of artists, authentic voices and loud opinions who come across my daily feeds. I’m amazed by the dexterity of basic home recording equipment, to those who are building music careers in the Web3 space.
I am the founder of WITCiH (Women in Tech Creative Industries Hub), a platform elevating women, trans and non-binary creative practitioners in tech. Over lockdown, I curated ‘WITCiH Digital Festival’ starring Laurie Anderson, Ana Matronic and Hannah Peel and the Creative Women In Tech podcast featuring Anna Meredith, Gazelle Twin, Nwando Ebizie, Adah Parris, and Alex Box. I have become part of a team developing an AI composer tool with the University of Sheffield. I have a passion for these emerging technologies and am committed to understanding how best artists can intersect creatively and politically with these new languages and formations.
My interest in being on the board of the FAC is how I can help to affect change in pragmatic and positive ways, drawing on my years of self-releasing, so that other artists can embark on long journeys and artistic careers within these industries. I have entered the space of scoring and composing for film and TV and writing for orchestra and choir, with a recent VR film project being shortlisted at Cannes and a TV series which aired on Channel 4. According to Donne Equality and Diversity Report 2023-2024, in over 100 orchestras only 0.5% of pieces performed were by Asian female composers. Still, in a minority, I am committed to using my voice to empower those around me.
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