‘ I want people to come and have a good time – and also maybe to attend events that feel out of their comfort zone, to learn about new things and have new experiences.’ – Nabihah Iqbal
Our Guest Director, musician, DJ and broadcaster Nabihah Iqbal encourages audiences to Gather Round to discover emerging artists and rediscover renowned musicians at this year’s Brighton Festival. Join us for exclusives and premieres from groundbreaking and innovative contemporary music performers.
Critically acclaimed British-Bengali artist, composer and producer BISHI performs alongside Trans Voices, the UK’s first professional trans+ choir, for a Brighton Festival exclusive – Celestial Voices [Swargiya Awaz}. The evening features BISHI’s solo material from her album Let My Country Awake, written for sitar and her four-octave vocal range, and she will be joined for the album’s choral pieces by Trans Voices, who will perform them alongside her. The evening culminates in a performance of the piece Of Herculine, which was composed exclusively by BISHI for Trans Voices and was inspired by the life of notable intersex diarist Herculine Barbin. The event will be opened and closed by experimental music artist I Am Fya.
Where did the inspiration for Celestial Voices come from?
BISHI: ‘The idea for this show came from my interest and creative history in experimenting with my voice and interest in writing for non-traditional voices. As a product of several cultures, my relationship to eastern and western musical languages is not binary.
As an artist who came up through alternative queer nightlife, I continue to have close artistic relationships with the LGBTQ+ community. As a teenager, I had read the diary of Herculine Barbine, which [French philosopher] Michel Foucault had discovered in the 1970s while conducting research at the French Department of Public Hygiene. I was completely entranced and deeply moved by this diary ever since.
Over the pandemic, my friendship grew with Ilā, co-founder of Trans Voices and I have grown to adore the rest of the choir and love their repertoire.’
In a Brighton Festival world premiere, local poetic pop singer and songwriter Evadney collaborates with Berlin-based visual artist Infinite Vibes, who uses AI and machine learning to ‘explore the depths of the human experience’. Coupled with Evadney’s moving voice and intimate and confessional lyrics, they create a visually stunning performance that explores Evadney’s inner world.
How did the show come about and what inspired it?
Evadney: ‘The show was birthed during my time as artist in residence at Britten Pears Arts in Suffolk in September 2022. I’ve always been struck by the power of music to move humans emotionally, particularly during live performance. I had an idea to create an audio visual projection performance piece that would represent the journey that energy takes from the time a song is received in inspiration to an artist and the emotions experienced when it is being written, through to the time that it is performed and those emotions are transferred onto an audience. When I saw the work of Infinite Vibes I was totally blown away by his skill but also how much beauty he creates with AI. There’s a lot of fear about AI but as with everything it is about how we use it and I wanted to create something that was overtly beautiful.
The visuals were created from choreographed movements I filmed, animated with an AI programmed theme of the process of seed germination to flowering / fruiting. Additionally I wrote a series of letters about my childhood and early adult memories, such as visits to the Caribbean, sexual exploration and my first school performance experiences, from which we pulled corresponding thematic imagery to program further AI generated visuals. So the visuals are very personal and it’s a very special melding with each other that we have created.’
In addition to premieres from BISHI and Evadney, Mercury Prize winner Talvin Singh OBE returns with a Brighton Festival exclusive. The world-famous percussionist, producer and composer will take to the stage with his unique blend of Indian traditional music and contemporary electronica. He’ll be supported by Scottish-Indian protest musician Kapil Seshasayee.
This event is supported by
