GALYA BISENGALIEVA
photo: Nicol Vizioli
Having shrugged off generic boundaries Galya Bisengalieva is an artist who defies categorisation. The Kazakh composer, producer and violinist has earned a distinctive place in new music thanks to her originality and virtuosity. She made her first two records, EP ONE and TWO, on her own NOMAD Music Productions, a label she founded to champion experimental sounds.
In 2020 she released her debut album “Aralkum”. Galya’s focus on wide expanses of tone suit the album’s subject: the Aral Sea and the desolate landscapes formed from its disastrous shrinking. October 2023 saw the release of “Polygon” turning her attention to one of the darkest episodes in Kazakh history - the radioactive legacy of the Semipalatinsk Test Site. Born into a family of classical and folk musicians in the Kazakh capital Almaty in the late 1980s, Galya’s own early childhood overlapped with the latter part of the forty-year period during which the former Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests ,creating more fallout than Chernobyl. On the aptly titled Polygon, Galya demonstrates the power of music to convey a story even as complex as this one as she considers its environmental, geological and geopolitical aspects.
An internationally-recognised performer, Galya has played at venues including the Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, Brooklyn Academy of Arts, ACE Theatre LA, Béla Bartók Concert Hall, Victoria Hall, Teatro Colòn, Strelka Institute, Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie and the Paris Philharmonie.
Recently she was invited to perform her works at the ICA, Haus Der Kunst, National Sawdust, Kiezsalon, Berliner Festspiele, Le Guess Who, Rewire, Donau and WOS Festivals and her compositions were featured in the Wire, Fact, Boiler Room, Pitchfork, The Quietus, Sound on Sound and Nowness publications. She has closely collaborated with some of the world’s finest musicians spanning many genres including Moor Mother, Pauline Oliveros, Suzanne Ciani, Laurie Spiegel, Terry Riley, Jlin, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Thom Yorke and Actress.
Galya’s solos and improvisations can be heard on numerous film soundtracks and TV productions including You Were Never Really Here, Honey Boy, The Two Popes, The Master, Suspiria and albums by Frank Ocean, Taylor Swift, Radiohead, The National and Sigur Rós. Following the release of Netflix’s inspiring documentary ‘Hold Your Breath: The Ice Dive’, she released her first official soundtrack in July 2022.
Her latest collaborations have been with fashion houses Norlha, Phoebe English, Renata Brenha, Gerbase, Burberry and Alexander McQueen.
“Galya…a powerful force in new and primordial music” The Quietus
“creates teeming and imagistic environments with four strings and electronics” Pitchfork
“It makes for a challenging listen, but demands the listener return for more, and reveals Bisengalieva not only as a star violinist but as a producing force to be reckoned with.” The Guardian
“Technical versatility combined with an inquisitive temperament make Galya Bisengalieva a truly exciting violinist, as these appetising releases on her own label show.” The Wire
LATEST RELEASES ↓
![POLYGON]()
POLYGON - OUT NOW
![]()
![]()
“absolutely thrilling” The Guardian
“a musical journey from beauty to desolation to hope” Uncut
“Aralkum is as deep, dark and inexplorable as the disaster it reflects. It advances like the poisoned sand. It is also beautiful and mesmeric, steeped in profound sadness, as if low sobs of protest were slowed to the pace of desiccation.” Metro
“Bisengalieva’s meditation on aridity strikes the perfect tone. Concept albums are hard to pull off, especially debut concept albums. Aralkum leads listeners through a gamut of emotions, yet resists the urge to wrap it in a neat bow. The open-endedness reflects the nature of the artist herself.” A Closer Listen
“Aralkum feels like a deep meditation on our interaction with and responsibility for nature. Between the menacing dissonance of “Moynaq” and the swelling harmonies of “Zhalanash”, an elegy morphs into inspiration.” Bandcamp
“creates teeming and imagistic environments with four strings and electronics” Pitchfork
“It makes for a challenging listen, but demands the listener return for more, and reveals Bisengalieva not only as a star violinist but as a producing force to be reckoned with.” The Guardian
“Technical versatility combined with an inquisitive temperament make Galya Bisengalieva a truly exciting violinist, as these appetising releases on her own label show.” The Wire
POLYGON - OUT NOW
“absolutely thrilling” The Guardian
“a musical journey from beauty to desolation to hope” Uncut
“Aralkum is as deep, dark and inexplorable as the disaster it reflects. It advances like the poisoned sand. It is also beautiful and mesmeric, steeped in profound sadness, as if low sobs of protest were slowed to the pace of desiccation.” Metro
“Bisengalieva’s meditation on aridity strikes the perfect tone. Concept albums are hard to pull off, especially debut concept albums. Aralkum leads listeners through a gamut of emotions, yet resists the urge to wrap it in a neat bow. The open-endedness reflects the nature of the artist herself.” A Closer Listen
“Aralkum feels like a deep meditation on our interaction with and responsibility for nature. Between the menacing dissonance of “Moynaq” and the swelling harmonies of “Zhalanash”, an elegy morphs into inspiration.” Bandcamp