Fête de la Musique: BERLIN GLOBAL meets Anthony Hüseyin, Karmatürji and DJ Ipek

Anthony Hüseyin (they/them) is a non-binary singer-songwriter and performer from Turkey. Born in the religious-conservative city of Urfa and raised in Istanbul, Hüseyin gave up their Turkish passport to avoid joining the army, moving instead to the Netherlands to pursue a master’s in jazz singing. Hüseyin used music for the first time to confront the prevailing social and political injustices within Turkey after the outbreak of the Gezi protests in 2013. Their at times melancholic, at times jazzy songs combine house, techno and nu-disco with Türk Sanat Müzigi (Turkish Art Music).

Karmatürji is a collaboration between singer Petra Nachtmanova, multi-instrumentalist and composer Ceyhun Kaya and iconic DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu. Together they create a delicate yet powerful blend of ancient Anatolian songs, Eastern European melodies, living and dead languages, electronic sounds and solos using traditional folk instruments. The result is a unique Anatolian electro-folk-pop sound in Turkish, Russian, Polish, English, and German.

DJ Ipek, a.k.a. Ipek Ipekçioğlu, is an internationally successful and multi-award-winning DJ, producer, curator, and queer activist living in Berlin. A pioneer of Orient & Asian music, her influence on diverse areas of Berlin’s club scene dates back to 1990’s and she has been the resident DJ at “Gayhane HomoOriential Dancefloor” at Berlin’s SO36 for over 24 years. With a strong socio-critical focus, Ipek deals with topics such as women, gender, migration, racism, and multiple discrimination, in addition to DJing and producing. In all of her work, the Turkish-born artist focuses on cultural and gender diversity and opening borders within different communities and the (electronic) music and club scene.