GETTING CLOSER: ANTHONY HÜSEYIN
ANTHONY HÜSEYIN is a non-binary musician, performer, and activist. Born in Urfa, raised in Istanbul, jazzed up in the Netherlands, and now rocking Rotterdam and Berlin, they've come a long way to reach this point. From dropping beats at Paradiso to protesting with “Mr. Prime Minister” during the Gezi Park Protest, Anthony is a powerhouse mixing dark electro-pop, jazz vibes, and traditional Turkish music.
In this interview, we rediscovered Anthony not only as an outstanding artist but as a strong and absolutely unstoppable personality. Check out our interview with ANTHONY HÜSEYIN, and keep an eye out for the release of their upcoming album “0 SHAPED SONGS”.
MUSIC STARTED AS AN ALTAR FOR ME
where I could just be myself, just by myself and I got intimate with myself. I remember the time I was 13-14 years old, when I just took my guitar, went to our huge cold living room, full of coaches and pillows, and picked chords by myself, writing my first songs there. It was the beginning of the music high school. These were the deepest, tossed feelings - being in that room, all alone.
I WAS BORN WITH THIS VOICE
with these ears, with this attraction to music, which I‘ve inherited from my father, who is also a singer.
Music always changed its purpose. Now it‘s a little bit of everything - connecting with myself and with people, telling things that some of them don‘t dare to tell.
OUR DREAMS AND WISHES ARE COLONISED.
They are constructed by society, patriarchy, religion. To say even more, our music is colonized. When Western classical music entered the Eastern countries, it came with a hierarchy. I grew up with this feeling that this music is “better”. But when I started studying jazz, I deeply questioned myself “WHAT IS MY MUSIC?” This was the moment I started decolonizing my music.
YOU WOULD NEVER BELIEVE BUT I
sat on the lap of Marina Abramovic for a selfie after performing for 7 days together and Lana Wachowski, one of the directors of Matrix came to see my 3rd album performative concert Project O.
THE THING THAT MAKES ME HAPPY IS
seeing people especially men doesn't tell their opinion about everything without being asked.
MUSIC IS A WEAPON.
I discovered it in 2013, with the Gezi Park Protest in Istanbul. Back then I was teaching in Rotterdam, but I questioned myself what I could do from there to support. So, I wrote the song “Mr. Prime Minister”, made a video with one of my best friends, released it and it went viral. I started receiving emails and messages from people I don‘t know, who wrote that while they were resisting the police attacks during the protest - my song came along. They wrote that this song was the new oxygen for them to keep going. I won several prizes in my life, but this was the highest prize I ever received.
The Gezi Park Protest started in Istanbul in June 2013 and has spread to the entire country. There were protest hours in the evening when people just leaned out of the balconies or windows, took pots and spoons, and made noise. Every evening at 8 pm. That noise of people hitting metal stuff covered the streets of Istanbul and became a composition.
WHAT I WANT TO DO IS TO GET IN YOUR HEART, TO GET IN YOUR BRAIN.
But then I‘m like “HOW?” And with the art and music aesthetics, the mathematics of it, the chemical side of it I‘m going to try to confront you, but I don‘t want to scare you. The art becomes a weapon when it strikes into your heart like a bullet. But this one doesn‘t kill you, it makes you grow and rediscover yourself.