“Bisan Toron’s voice is a door that opens out to mystery.” - Pir Zia Inayat-Khan
My Voice Creature work began with a rupture between my inner experience and my voice.
I had two academic degrees in voice and ethnomusicology, had trained as a classical vocalist and had experience as a performer, yet there remained a chasm between what I felt inside and what was actually coming out of my mouth as expression. I was searching for a deeper sense of connection - although I could sing technically well, there was a sense of something in me that I could not give voice to.
I went looking for the edges of my voice. I joined a punk rock jazz band, travelled to the Middle East to live with Bedouins and record their music, and completed a Master’s in Ethnomusicology, studying Persian and Bulgarian singing and specializing in Music and Identity. In retrospect, I was looking for my own musical tradition - a sense of home. Instead, a growing silence took over - it became more painful to sing than not to, and I retreated into silence.
After turning toward the study of Sufism to answer deeper questions that were emerging, seven years had gone by. I felt an unmistakable sense that I was going to become ill unless I returned to my voice. I left for France to work with Linda Wise of Pantheatre, who invited me to dig into the uncharted territories of my voice.
I also spent months sitting alone, feeling into the unknown, allowing aspects of myself I had long ago banished to emerge in my breath, my body and, eventually, through my voice. I began practicing giving my body entirely to whatever wanted to live through it in the moment, allowing inner feeling to translate directly into sound. Two questions kept arising:
What is true? What wants to live through this body?
What came was specific: a shame-ridden, grieving donkey, a crow that was in terror and alone, an angelic gorilla, tentative in its power - these were my first Voice Creatures. They were raw, snot-ridden, wounded, messy, dark, downtrodden and, somehow, but somehow wholly beautiful in their truth. The more thoroughly I allowed these creatures to sing through me, to howl and let themselves be known, the more “pieced” together I felt. This band of outcasts began to sing me back to life.
This became the foundation of my work.
Voice Creatures begins with what we have pushed to the periphery: the parts of ourselves we have deemed unacceptable, ugly, shameful and unlovable.
Rather than standing at a safe distance from them, explaining them or trying to fix them, we give them body. Breath. Voice. Sound. We allow them to move through us on their own terms. We practice trusting the body to guide us.
Something that has been held, silenced or frozen can come back into movement. I was looking for an echo from the world to know myself, to feel my existence, and it was through sounding these internal forgotten parts that I began to find that truthful resonance. The intimacy of connection that I had been searching for.
Underneath my work is an old and persistent question of belonging. My work holds a flag for the marginalized parts in us. I am interested in where we have become fragmented, and in what happens when what has been cast out is given our full attention in breath, body, sound.
Photos by Sean Dimond
“In my opinion, Bisan Toron is a miracle worker. I don't think I have ever seen anyone teach with so much wisdom, clarity, and energy... She does more than teach music. She changes lives.”
— Justin Nielson, Founder, Sing Music Academy
Photo by Jane Feldman
“Bisan is so much more than just a vocal teacher. She is a living, breathing initiation. In every session, she challenged me to explore the hidden corners of my voice and cultivate new depths of expression. She effortlessly blends nurturing, attuned energy that makes you feel safe … with a strong, vibrant presence that calls your best self forward. Working with Bisan has not only revolutionized my voice … it has given me permission to inhabit more of myself through sound.”
— ShiShi, Musical Artist
“Bisan Toron is magnificent. Never in my life has my spirit been more moved and inspired than in the moments I have heard and felt the power and purity of her voice. She is a vessel of pure sonic wisdom, frequency, and wonder, touching the innermost regions of our humanness.”
— Frederick Johnson, Vocalist & Teacher
“Bisan is nothing short of remarkable as a teacher. With her, I was able to process the years of built-up pressure around how my voice "should" sound and find the freedom, ease, and authentic expression I'd been longing for.”
— Adam Pearce, Student
“Bisan’s work is exquisite. It’s almost impossible to put into words because even the most erudite prose falls short of capturing the raw depth of transformation that can come if you open and allow yourself to be guided by her into corners of your soul, in search of the truth of that moment. And when that truth moves through you, through your voice, through the vibration of your body, you transcend your own story and become simply what you are. Anyone who decides to go on the journey with Bisan needs to know this isn’t just working with your voice - it recalibrates your entire being - and I am deeply grateful for all of it. ”
— Kimberley
"Then... there's the magical voice of Bisan Toron, an artist who I love and respect so much. One of a kind. Bisan embodies and conveys music in the purest way. Her voice is a gift from God. She's a dream to work with, she perfectly translates every detail of my music from my mind to this planet in a tangible form: the love, the fear, the angst, the courage, the hope... Her depth is unreal. The most unique voice I have ever worked with."
— Simone Giuliani, Composer & Producer
"Bisan’s energy and presence gave me a deep sense of safety. She inspired me, simply by being who she is, to express my truth. The way she held space with compassion and without judgment made me feel truly accepted and seen. I found it remarkable how she was able to see me through all my layers.
One of the most significant things I learned from Bisan is to give all aspects of myself, especially the darker ones, the right to exist. This insight has also transformed the way I work with my own clients. It feels as if my awareness has expanded, and that when I reside in my true presence, as I felt she does, it becomes an authentic invitation for others to shift into greater compassion for themselves and their life situations.
Over the past few months, I’ve been very needed within my family, supporting both my father and my mother, as well as accompanying my brother through his rite of passage. It was a deeply challenging time, but it also brought a lot of healing. I truly believe that without the Voice Creatures journey, I wouldn’t have been able to navigate this period with the same sense of presence and compassion. Even the way I teach yoga has shifted, from a place of insecurity to a more grounded presence that includes all aspects of who I am. Teaching feels more natural now. And although I don’t often sing or make music spontaneously, I’ve noticed that the way I speak, especially when giving instructions, feels a bit like singing. Simply because I now feel what I say.
There’s still a quiet longing in me to sing and make music again, but I’m patient. I trust it will come when the time is right. Thank you, Bisan. My time with Bisan has been truly life-changing. I feel so much more whole and integrated."
— Bowinneth Phem, Holistic Psychologist
Work with Bisan
With a vast background in classical voice and mysticism, Bisan helps her students reclaim the exiled, discarded, and silenced aspects of their Self, known as their “Voice Creatures”. Working on the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels, Bisan guides her students through what it means to become a vessel for their infinite nature to fully and freely resound through them.
Bisan offers in-person and virtual coaching sessions across any time zone.
Photo by Sean Dimond
Performances
Migrant Songs - Live Concert. Soft premiere of Migrant Songs Album w/Simone Giuliani & friends. Topanga, CA.
Invocations. Live concert w/Simone Guiliani. Pure Land Farms. Topanga, CA.
Castello a Mare. NYsferatu live performance. Palermo, Italy
GAMeC - Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea. NYsferatu live performance. Bergamo, Italy
Invisible Essence: The Little Prince. Featured vocalist on documentary by Charles Officer. Toronto, Canada
Rome Film Festival. Featured live vocalist for NYsferatu. Auditorium Parco della Musica. Festa del Cinema di Roma. Italy
NYsferatu. Symphony of a Century. Featured Vocalist/Co-Composer for multi-media art project. New York, NY
You Are So Lucky. New Years Eve. Alder Manor. Yonkers, NY.
LEIMAY. HANASAKA: Inaugural Annual Benefit. The Cave. Brooklyn, NY.
Into Sunlight. Vocalist for original dance score for production by Robin Becker Dance Co. New York, NY
Overground Physical Theatre Company. Eccocentric. NY, NY.
Urs of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Delhi, India.
Dumbo Arts Festival. Amatria. Brooklyn, NY.
Zonta International. La Musique Adoucit les Moeurs. Benefit for the Committee Against Modern Day Slavery. Paris, France.
National Conservatory of Ramallah. Transit Performance Group: Fusion Jazz & Arabic Music. Israel & the West Bank.
Teaching
American University of Cairo. Voice for Actors Workshop. Cario, Egypt.
Yangchenma Arts & Music. Voice Creatures Workshop. Pure Land Farms, Topanga, CA.
American School of Dubai. Guest Artist. Dubai, U.A.E.
Zenith Sufi Summer Camp, The Movement and Sound of Love, Co-led workshop with dancer, Robin Becker. Ticino, Switzerland
Pantheatre ‘ACTS’ Voice Performance School, Classical Vocal Technique and Improvisation. Paris, France
N.Y.U. Master Class, Dubai, U.A.E.
FRESCO Arts Academy Master Class, Boise, ID
ESADIB (Escola Superior d’Art Dràmatic de les Illes Balears), Voice Professor, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Overground Physical Theatre Company, Music Director/Vocal Coach. NY, NY.
Masters Fieldwork Project: The Fusion Music of Ethnic Minorities in Port of Spain. Port of Spain,Trinidad
Masters Thesis: Beur Identity: The Local, The Global and The Search for Home in the Music of the Second and Third Generation Franco-Arab Community
Conflict Resolution Music & Movement Workshops, Co-designed and conducted workshops for Arab & Israeli women and children. Haifa, Israel/ Ramallah, West Bank
Recording a Bedouin Family’s Legacy. Fieldwork project to document music and rituals of the Abu Jrabat Tribe. Ma’daba, Jordan