Albion Voice
Troubling relationship with England. “Indian skin and Albion voice.”
When discussing her experience as a working musician Bishi states ‘There is colonial bias in the music industry’ as she and others she has encountered have felt South Asian British acts are regularly shipped into the category of ‘world music’, this kind of profiling meant that Bishi felt ‘locked’ out of pop music, stating in our lecture ‘”Your cultural roots and the doors that slam in your face are sometimes the greatest indicator of where you have to go”. This led Bishi Bhattacharya into an explorative field diagnosing her relationship with her Britishness and Bengali heritage. In a way this links in with Zakia Sewell’s exploration with her BBC radio 4 series ‘My Albion’ as she details her love and connection to pagan and folk culture as a British (London-born, raised in Wales) person with African Caribbean ancestry and the problematic balance between embracing ones cultural roots whilst acknowledging the history of white supremacy, colonialism and the slave trade.
Bishi breifly mentioned the F-list, an organization which sole purpose to address the racial and misogynistic biases in the music industry, as well as her work with the organisation WITCiH (Women In Technology Creative Industries Hub) of which she is a co-founder. In response to the quote earlier, about ‘doors being slammed in your face’, again with her work within these communities, Bishi has responded to racial and sexist bias by building a platform to combat these sometimes outright and sometimes internal prejudices.
Bishi spoke about the power of the collective and community through queer performance art and mentioned Leigh Bowery as a person she was influenced by greatly in the 80s, and queer fashion circles helped her gain the confidence young to follow her art with conviction. Leigh Bowery in the latter years of his life formed a band called Minty in the 90s, they recently reformed after 30 years where Bishi can be seen using Imogen Heap’s FX glove prototype ‘Mi.Mu’. Here are some vintage Minty recordings and videos with Leigh Bowery.
Leigh Bowery passed away in 1994 of AIDS related Meningitis, he was a revolutionary figure in drag and art performance. Here is a quote from the Legacy Project Chicago, an oraganisation that seeks to preserve the histories of queer people.
“[Bowery] … became his own greatest creation. Combining dance, dandyism, music, and outrageous fashions (of his own design) Bowery lived as a piece of performance art. His extreme appearance was based on the continual distortion of his physical form. This tendency, combined with a blatant queer narcissism, made him a star of the gay and polysexual club scene. Smart, well read, and interested in all forms of artistic expression, Bowery was an ideal candidate to transform the underground world. In 1985 he hosted London’s outrageous and notorious club night, ‘Taboo’ – the wild, edgy epicenter of young and fashionable London. Taboo closed in 1987 when hard drugs and HIV decimated the underground scene. Bowery continued to perform with several concept bands, was featured in a show at d’Offay Gallery as living sculpture, and became his own greatest masterpiece. His groundbreaking style influenced an entire generation of artists and designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, David LaChapelle, John Galliano, The Scissor Sisters, and Boy George. He is also credited as a major factor behind the new Romantic music movement that became popular in London during the 1980s. Leigh Bowery died of AIDS related meningitis on New Year’s Eve of 1994 at the age of 33. Despite his brief life, his greatest legacy was the lesson to be found in taking the pain of being an outsider – then owning, exaggerating, and ultimately reclaiming it as the ultimate badge of power.” – https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/leigh-bowery