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Bishi is joined by NTS’ Teju Adeleye on decks and a panel discussion with Broadly Editor Zing Tsjeng, Artistic Director Deborah Coughlin (The Guardian, BBC Radio 4) and more TBA…

7pm – Doors open

Throughout tonight’s event NTS’s Teju Adeleye will be DJing a set influenced by the themes of the night.

7:30pm – Artistic Director Deborah Coughlin launches festival

7:45pm – European debut of The Good Immigrant song cycle by Bishi

‘Compelling’ (Classical Voice North America)
European debut of Bishi Bhattacharya’s National Sawdust commission The Good Immigrant – a song cycle for voice looper, sitar and electronics. Critically acclaimed artist and composer Bishi takes a personal and intersectional journey reflecting on her experiences. As a British-Bengali daughter of immigrants, adopted by London’s community of alternative queer nightlife, she has lived through a unique cross section of London’s contemporary urban landscape.

Co-produced with composer and sound designer Jeff Cook, this work was premiered in January 2018 in New York. This is the show’s first European outing. The music is inspired by ‘The Good Immigrant’, a collection of essays by 21 BAME writers, ruminating on race and identity in contemporary Britain edited by Nikesh Shukla. Each song is a response to a particular essay in the book, with special audio quotes sampled in from personal interviews conducted with writers Nikesh Shukla, Salena Godden and Darren Chetty, ending with a choral setting of Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Where The Mind is Without Fear’.

9:00pm – What Is England? Panel event

Chaired by Artistic Director Deborah Coughlin, discussing English identity at a time of a rise in toxic nationalism: Join Broadly Editor Zing Tsjeng and more in a discussion and Q&A about English identity.

This discussion may not be suitable for under 16s.

Between each section of the evening DJs will be performing a playlist inspired by the evening’s themes. The Old Church bar will be open throughout the evening.

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