Alisha Sufit (born 1946) was the English singer-songwriter with the 1970s

Magic Carpet A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet and common trope in fantasy fiction. It is typically used as a form of transportation and can quickly or instantaneously carry its users to their destination. In literature One o ...

, whose eponymous first album was released on the UK Mushroom label in 1972. The Mushroom label is not to be confused with the Australian label of the same name, and was led by Vic Keary from the late 1960s from Chalk Farm Studios in Belmont Street, London.

History

Alisha Sufit was born in Hampstead, London, England. She attended the Arts Educational School in London, where she studied dance and drama. She went to

Chelsea College of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

, London, to study painting and etching, and then to the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

in Paris, France, after which she began performing in clubs and colleges around the UK, singing her own compositions plus traditional folk songs, self-accompanied on acoustic guitar and

Appalachian dulcimer The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of ...

. She is also a visual artist, author and poet. In 1971, Sufit joined with ex Chelsea School of Art fellow student Jim Moyes plus two musical friends to form the psychedelic progressive folk-rock band, Magic Carpet. The line-up consisted of Sufit (vocals, guitar), Clem Alford (sitar, esraj, tamboura), Jim Moyes (guitar) and

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tabla, Indian percussion. The Magic Carpet band made an eponymous album released in 1972 on the UK Mushroom label, described as one of the first Indian-influenced psychedelic folk albums of the era. After a launch at the

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in London, a performance at

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's Stables Theatre Wavendon, radio airplay on

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on BBC Radio, plus several club and festival appearances, the group disbanded in 1972. During the 1970s and 1980s, Sufit performed solo and was also supporting artist alongside numerous musicians including

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, the guitarist

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(also known as Davy Graham),

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, amongst others. She was invited to appear at the Incredible String Band's I.S.B. Convention concert in Leeds in 1994. Some fifteen years after its release, the Magic Carpet album began to receive acclaim, the original LP now a sought-after collectable on the international vinyl market, reissued on CD and limited edition vinyl by Magic Carpet Records (UK). In 1993, Sufit released the album ''Alisha Through the Looking Glass'', on CD and heavy-weight EMI audiophile vinyl. The album included contributions by

Ray Warleigh Raymond Kenneth Warleigh (28 September 1938 – 21 September 2015) was an Australian alto saxophonist and flautist. Biography Ray Warleigh was born in Sydney, Australia, and migrated to England in 1960, where he quickly established himself as an ...

(saxophone), Bernard O'Neill (bass), Magic Carpet percussionist

(tabla), Mamadi Kamara (congas and percussion), Chris Haigh (fiddle) and Alan Dunn (accordion). In 1994, Sufit released the album ''Love and the Maiden'', recorded in 1974, a signed limited edition CD with sleeve notes by UK guitarist

. In 1996, Magic Carpet sitarist Clem Alford and Sufit collaborated again to record the album ''Once Moor'', subtitled ''Magic Carpet II'', featured in ''Sound on Sound'' magazine. In 1999, she contributed two tracks to the compilation album ''Women of Heart and Mind'', a collaboration of women singer-songwriters, and in 2005 she was included in the compilation CD and vinyl album ''Many Bright Things'', contributing her own composition "Silver Witch", accompanied on mandolin and bass by Frank Defina. In 2008, she was invited to join the live band The Amorphous Androgynous on tour for the Creation of Peace free festival in Kazan, Tatarstan and a performance in Moscow, plus for the following year in Kiev, Ukraine, Green Man Festival, The Electric Picnic and the HMV Forum, London. She sang lead vocals on The Amorphous Androgynous Oasis reissue of ''Falling Down'' and was also invited to sing lead vocals on The Amorphous Androgynous' "Let It Be track" on the ''Let It Be Revisited'' album issued on CD and vinyl by Mojo magazine in 2010. Sufit is the author of a novel entitled ''Falling Upwards'', and also the author of a collection of poetry entitled ''Moon Clippings''. In 2015, Sufit contributed two tracks to the anti-war pro-peace '' Not In Our Name CD'' – a song entitled "Mr Blair" and a poem entitled "Bliar", the latter read by David Erdos.

Discography

Albums

* ''Magic Carpet'' – 1972 and 1993 * ''Love and the Maiden'' – 1974 * ''Alisha Through The Looking Glass'' – 1993 * ''Once Moor – Magic Carpet 2'' – 1996 * ''Not in Our Name CD'' – 2015

Compilations, contributions

* ''Women of Heart and Mind'' * ''Many Bright Things'' – 2005 * ''A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding in Your Mind, Volume 1'' – 2008 * ''Falling Down'' (vocals) Amorphous Androgynous remix commissioned by Oasis * ''Let It Be Revisited / Let It Be'' – 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sufit, Alisha 1946 births Living people English women singer-songwriters Psychedelic folk musicians People educated at St Mary's Town and Country School