Global music specialists Real World Records have announced the welcome reissue, on both vinyl and compact disc, of Sheila Chandra’s momentous trilogy of albums, Weaving My Ancestor’s Voices, The Zen Kiss and ABoneCroneDrone, on June 16. Originally released between 1992-96, these beguiling, ground-breaking works paved the way for a vital new approach to world vocal music, fashioned from the singing styles of Chandra’s spiritual ancestors and through radical re-imaginings of myriad traditions.

Chandra herself regards these totemic sides – which made a UK-Asian diaspora sound fashionable for the very first time and served to inspire countless other artists in their wake – as the pinnacle of her remarkable career, one which was tragically cut short in 2009 when she was diagnosed with Burning Mouth Syndrome: “I am delighted that Real World Records are reissuing the albums of which I’m most proud,” she says. “They are a true reflection of me personally. They don’t sound like any other Asian musician who was making music at the time, and I very much doubt that they sound like any other musician now.”