Ishtar likes to bend the role of vocalist to the one of ‘soundmaker’. In her projects electronics, loops, instruments and vocal effects create a language together that tell a story. As a vocalist and composer she especially likes to collaborate cross-disciplinary and aims to weaving a musical texture to support the other discipline and reach synergy.
Lyrics and atmosphere are important factors in her compositions and arrangements and often these come from drawings or are related to other visual factors like dance and film. Her musical influences are: Indian Classical music, Brazilian music, sounds of nature, electronics, Western Classical music and Jazz.
Born to a Dutch mother and Hindustan-Surinam father she came into contact with different cultures and various kinds of music from a young age. This planted the seed to explore more cultures and languages, leading especially to Portugal and India. Her interest in performing arts led her through acting, dancing, music courses and collaborations of different kinds and music from different traditions. In recent years mainly Jazz and Indian Classical (Dhrupad and Carnatic) music as well as a crossover.