Bishi announces new album/tour

British Bengali artist, composer, producer, sitarist, and cult figure BISHI announces the release of her fourth studio album ‘MAYA: The Birth of a Superhero – Original Score’, taken from the acclaimed immersive film of the same name. Released on her own label, Gryphon Records on 15 May 2026, the album is preceded by the single ‘Maya She Lives Inside Me’ out now, with four special live performances and workshops in key UK cities in June.

The visually stunning, surreal and boundary pushing video for the single blurs performance, identity and technology in a way that feels very now. It was directed by Ilā, using the original still photography and creative direction by renowned photographer Fiona Garden. Ilā is known for their groundbreaking approach to AI and technology. They used hybrid techniques to animate images of BISHI using a range of AI tools and editing techniques from Kling and Adobe Firefly, as well as footage of BISHI performing the song to drive the motion of the stills.

A striking melodic riff threads through the score, inspired by a poignant scene in which Maya floats mid-air in a forest. That sensation is echoed in the motif’s rising sitar scale, heard in the ethereal single ‘Maya She Lives Inside Me’, a soaring, epic track that weaves together lush sitar, electronic production and BISHI’s arresting vocals.

MAYA: The Birth of a Superhero is a wildly imaginative, 30-minute virtual reality immersive animated film. It forms part of award-winning activist and transmedia artist Poulomi Basu’s law-changing multimedia project, Blood Speaks which explores menstrual exile and violence against women in South Asia. Co-directed by award winning director CJ Clarke, the story follows a South Asian girl navigating adolescence, the awakening of her sexuality and the discovery of her inner strength. The film was shortlisted at Festival de Cannes 2024, with BISHI’s evocative, deeply human score quietly underpinning the film’s emotional power.

Blending Hindustani and Western classical traditions with electronic experimentation, the score showcases BISHI’s four-octave vocal range, electric sitar, avant-garde textures and immersive cinematic, electronic soundscapes. “Music is a multi-sensory, synaesthetic experience for me,” says BISHI. “When I see visuals, particularly moving images, I hear melodies, rhythms and textures in my mind.”

BISHI said “It was a dream come true to compose and produce my first original soundtrack especially for a groundbreaking immersive VR by a fellow South Asian artist. This project highlights global menstrual stigma and the culture of shame and silence around women’s bodies, reproductive health and rights, so brings together art and activism which is a great passion of mine”

To mark the album release, BISHI will present four special live performances of the score across the UK in June 2026. The concerts feature BISHI on voice, sitar and electronics alongside live strings, with bespoke visuals from the creators of MAYA: The Birth of a Superhero manipulated live to create an immersive concert experience. Supported by Arts Council England, the tour will also include community-led workshops in each city exploring creativity, identity and storytelling. The tour follows past performances of the soundtrack that took place at the V&A Museum, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, SXSW and Sensoria Festival in Sheffield.

In ‘MAYA: The Birth of a Superhero’, the protagonist must overcome shame and fear to discover her true superpowers. With the arrival of her first period, Maya’s world is turned upside down as she is confronted by restrictive traditions within her conservative family and a wider culture of silence and stigma surrounding menstruation in contemporary London. The project draws inspiration from the real experiences of women in Nepal who are forced into exile during menstruation due to beliefs that menstrual blood is impure.

The immersive film MAYA: Birth Of A Superhero stars acclaimed actor Indira Varma (The Night Manager) and Charithra Chandran (Bridgerton). The project received a Special Jury Mention from Tribeca Immersive New Voices 2023 and has been selected for London Design Festival Digital Weekend 2023, SXSW 2024 and CPH 2024, as well as being shortlisted at Cannes 2024. It also received a four-star review from The Guardian.

BISHI is a London-born, British-Bengali artist, composer, producer, electric sitarist and technologist working at the intersection of sound, heritage and innovation. A cult figure embraced by the style press, her work spans music, film, TV and immersive media, combining sitar, a four-octave vocal range and innovative performance technology.  She has released three albums and several EPs via her label Gryphon Records and has collaborated with artists including Tony Visconti, Sean Ono Lennon, Jarvis Cocker, Daphne Guinness and Manish Arora, as well as ensembles such as City of London Sinfonia, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Symphony Orchestra and Kronos Quartet. A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist trained in both Western and Hindustani classical music, she studied sitar under Gaurav Mazumdar, a senior disciple of Ravi Shankar. BISHI composed and produced her first full original score for MAYA: The Birth of a Superhero. Her first television score, Defiance: Fighting the Far Right, aired on Channel 4 in 2024. She has also collaborated with the University of Sheffield on the development of an AI composer tool and created a voice model with Neutone AI. Her audiovisual installation Reflektions was commissioned for Coventry City of Culture and exhibited internationally. BISHI was also the first artist to have her work projected onto the Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site. BISHI sits on the board of In Place Of War, Featured Artists Coalition and is a member of Brian Eno’s Hard Art Collective. In 2025 she was Artist-in-Residence at the Pete Townshend Studio at the University of West London, and in 2026 she serves as Module Leader in Global Popular Music at City St George’s, University of London.