BISHI on the score for Maya: The Birth of a Superhero

“I see myself as an art musician,” says British-Bengali artist Bishi. A composer, sitarist and vocalist, Bishi’s output is wide-ranging: from hosting queer club nights alongside the Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic and collaborating with the Kronos Quartet to joining a live tour reimagining Bronski Beat’s debut album The Age of Consent alongside a host of artists including Beth Ditto and David McAlmont.

Today, we are talking about a yet another project: a new immersive film called Maya: The Birth of a Superhero.

“It’s about a young teenage girl in East London coming into her power, and her period being the seed of that feminine power,” she says. The film focuses on the harmful stigmas in South Asia surrounding periods. “There is a lot of shame around sexuality, around periods, around our bodies, and it’s endangering. In Nepal, these women are made to sleep outside of their village when they have their period, and that leaves them prey to all kinds of things.”

The short is part of activist and artist Poulomi Basu’s ongoing multimedia project, Blood Speaks, an exploration of menstrual exile and violence against women in South Asia. Bishi became involved after seeing a 2D render of Maya (directed by Basu and CJ Clarke) at an early stage of production. She immediately knew how she would score it: “I find it really easy to emotionally connect with what’s going on, on screen.”

Bishi grew up in London to Bengali parents who immigrated in the late 1960s. Her mother, Susmita Bhattacharya, a classically trained singer, was renowned for her interpretations of Tagore songs. Discussing her parents’ musical upbringing in Kolkata and West Bengal, she says, “They don’t see music and art as being exclusive; they see it as a divine right.”

Following the family tradition, Bishi studied sitar under Gaurav Mazumdar, a senior disciple of Ravi Shankar, and has since recontextualised the instrument in a way that represents her. In both North and South Indian classical music, she says, “the voice is the prime instrument… Everything was passed down orally, so I see the sitar as an extension of my voice, everything that I can sing.” The sitar, though a primary element in her work, does not define it. “All of these dimensions, whether it’s the piano [or] being a DJ in queer nightlife, I wanted to make music that was representative of the world that I was living.”

The sitar, which Bishi wears around her waist like an electric guitar, features on the soundtrack to Maya – not as the dominant sound but, as Bishi describes it, as one element, alongside synths, organ, strings, occasional percussion and voice. The album follows Maya’s journey as she seeks the true powers within herself as a girl. It passes through the discordant strings of ‘River of Blood’ as Maya faces initial humiliation; as she becomes more in touch with her powers, it finds levity, probing sitar joining bouncy synths on the title-track. Bishi likens the album to a wave. “There’s a really rousing mid-point, then it goes back again, then there’s a fairly techno-y ending, and then there’s the big pop tune”, referencing final track, ‘Maya She Lives Inside Me’.

Bishi will now take the soundtrack on tour with live strings, visuals by Clarke that were inspired by the film, and community-led workshops. “What I really want to do is create a space for reflection. People are so bombarded with images, with content, with information, that I think art and music really allow people to have a place to focus.”

A product of Bishi’s dedication to the accessibility of art and her belief in its boundless growth is WITCiH (Women in Technology Creative Industries Hub). Bishi ran this network from 2016–2022 to create a space to support female, trans and non-binary tech practitioners and links this project back to her family and her early DJ years. “You need to find a space to attract everyone with commonality towards you,” she says.

Her commitment to the combination of activism and art continues with Maya: The Birth of a Superhero. As a composer, she sees herself “as a prism for all of these fronts.” “I think it’s our duty as artists to be able to show the light and the shade of the world, to try and unite people and to give people hope.”

+ MAYA: The Birth of a Superhero is out now. See Live Guide for tour dates