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Hurriyet, Turkey
May 15 2010
Assyrian-Armenian musician aims to put Turkey on metal music map
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Ã-ZGÃ`R Ã-Ä?RET
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Ashmedi, founder and front man for the metal band Melechesh, is
recording his new album in Istanbul with his band. Moreover, he lives
in the city part time thanks to his girlfriend. The Assyrian-Armenian
musician says the band is metal with Eastern sounds. The way they play
their instruments is rather different than one would expect
Ashmedi would be an interesting person in many respects even if he
were not an internationally known musician recording his next album in
Istanbul.
`I am the embodiment of an identity crisis,' he said. `I've got an
Assyrian-Armenian father. I got a mother who is Armenian, born in
Syria. My father was born in Turkey.' His father was actually from
Istanbul and lived not too far from the studio in BeyoÄ?lu where the
Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review interviewed him.
`My father flew from here to Jerusalem, married my mother, who back
then lived in Allepo, Syria.' That was in the late 60s.
His father and older brother used to visit Turkey every summer,
according to Ashmedi, but his father died in a car accident when he
was five months old. So, before last summer, all he knew about Turkey
was a passport he used to have and a small statue they had in their
house. `My father came [to Israel] from here with no animosity [about
Turkey]. We actually had a small statue of Atatürk [the founder of the
Republic of Turkey] in my house because he thought he was a great
man,' he said.
The non-Israeli band from Israel
Melechesh, originally from east Jerusalem, is one of the first
internationally signed metal bands from the Middle East and perhaps
the first band of non-Israelis to come out of Israel as well. `We
never had Israeli passports. We had Jerusalem IDs as permanent
residents. However, they are systematically being confiscated. Ours
got confiscated too,' he said, adding that the music was not the
reason. It was `demographic.'
The band left Israel in 1998 for France and then the Netherlands,
mainly because of the `second-rate citizen' status they had there.
`There is no infrastructure there for you [as a non-Israeli] for a
fair and proper life,' he said, adding that many youths of similar
status leave for education in Europe and the U.S. and stay - not to
mention Israelis who do not approve of the status quo and don't want
to serve as soldiers. The other major reason was to be able to advance
in their music careers.
Northern Europe has circles of extreme-right, black metal circles that
were infamous for murders and church burnings in the 90s, but
Melechesh did not have any problems with those. They are sometimes
confused for being Arabs, Jews or `Arabic Jews' even, which portrays
their IQ level, according to Ashmedi. `What they do not understand is,
being national socialist or Nazi is against everything they stand for
in metal because they would have to cut their hair, wear a uniform and
be royal,' he said.
A fan of Istanbul
`Last year I met a wonderful [Turkish] lady from Amsterdam, who was a
fan of the band. I fell in love with her, and she changed me for the
better,' Ashmedi said when asked how he started to share his time
between Amsterdam and Istanbul. He first came to Istanbul in July 2009
and kept coming back to the city.
When asked of expectations he had before, `I knew what to expect
because I come from a country with more or less the same lifestyle.
Some things I experience and see here are more liberal, but it changes
accordingly,' he said, adding that he only has seen Istanbul and not
the rest of the country.
`The thing that shocked me most is the amount of people. I have never
seen this many people in my life,' he said. Having lived in small
cities like Jerusalem and Amsterdam actually surprised Ashmedi when he
first set foot on Ä°stiklal Avenue. `I held my girlfriend's hand and
said let us walk by the wall. There are way too many people here,' he
laughed. `That was what I did not expect.'
Ashmedi has `a mission to put [Istanbul] on the world metal music map'
more than it already is. `Vibrant, alive, about to explode with
energy,' he described the European side of the city, and how he always
enjoy visiting Kadıköy on the Asian side to relax on Sundays.
Here, where there is a 24-hour economy allowing you can purchase
alcohol or go out to eat 3 a.m., also fascinates him - although paying
50 Turkish Liras for a wine he would buy for 20 in Europe, does not.
Apart from music and Turkey, he is also interested in talking about
the Palestine and the Armenian-Turkish issues, but off the record
because, although he is very politically aware, Ashmedi prefers not to
go into those subjects during interviews.
`We are a mystical band, not a political band. But our political view
is, we count the dead and we care about so many people getting
slaughtered,' he said. `We have so much more in common than we have in
difference. I might sound like a new age hippie, but, mind you, this
is after years of soul searching and evolution,' he said.
The music, lyrics and beyond
Melechesh does not like to be labeled as `Oriental metal.' Ashmedi
explained why: `[Oriental] is a term that was used in the colonial
days to just say `the East.' That is as far as China. Are Chinese and
Japanese bands Oriental metal? Is a Viking metal band or Metallica
Occidental metal?' The band themselves prefer the term `Sumerian
thrashing black metal,' which Ashmedi has come up with. `In the end,
we are a metal band with Eastern sounds, however, done in its own way
as well. The way we play the drums, the way we pick the guitar is
different.'
`Melechesh lyrics deal with Middle Eastern mythology and the occult,'
he said. When asked what those mean ` a discreet way to ask if the
band is Satanist, Ashmedi said, `In daily life, I try to be as normal
as I can be just like everyone else - that is if you can define
`normal.' On a spiritual level, I am a person who tries to learn a lot
and be spiritually enhanced by any means necessary - by looking at any
corner of the world and any subject.'
`A large portion of philosophies, theologies and mystical beliefs are
stamped from the Near East or the Middle East,' he said. Sufism,
Kabala, Sumerian and Mesopotamian mythology all inspire Ashmedi. He
described the Occult as `being in touch with yourself and realizing
the whole world is energy,' not necessarily performing rituals. In
short, Melechesh is not a Satanic band.
Recording in Istanbul
Their last album `Emissaries' did very well worldwide, selling over
25,000 copies - no small feat for an extreme metal band in the age of
mp3.
It has been four years since `Emissaries' because the band chose not
to rush their next release. The next album will likely appear more
quickly, though, since they have more material than they are recording
at the moment. Ashmedi said they chose to record in Turkey because
they want to practice what they preach as a band with both Western and
Eastern influences. Cahit Berkay from MoÄ?ollar and new age pop
musician Harun Kolçak are likely to perform as guests on the album as
well.
May 15 2010
Assyrian-Armenian musician aims to put Turkey on metal music map
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Ã-ZGÃ`R Ã-Ä?RET
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Ashmedi, founder and front man for the metal band Melechesh, is
recording his new album in Istanbul with his band. Moreover, he lives
in the city part time thanks to his girlfriend. The Assyrian-Armenian
musician says the band is metal with Eastern sounds. The way they play
their instruments is rather different than one would expect
Ashmedi would be an interesting person in many respects even if he
were not an internationally known musician recording his next album in
Istanbul.
`I am the embodiment of an identity crisis,' he said. `I've got an
Assyrian-Armenian father. I got a mother who is Armenian, born in
Syria. My father was born in Turkey.' His father was actually from
Istanbul and lived not too far from the studio in BeyoÄ?lu where the
Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review interviewed him.
`My father flew from here to Jerusalem, married my mother, who back
then lived in Allepo, Syria.' That was in the late 60s.
His father and older brother used to visit Turkey every summer,
according to Ashmedi, but his father died in a car accident when he
was five months old. So, before last summer, all he knew about Turkey
was a passport he used to have and a small statue they had in their
house. `My father came [to Israel] from here with no animosity [about
Turkey]. We actually had a small statue of Atatürk [the founder of the
Republic of Turkey] in my house because he thought he was a great
man,' he said.
The non-Israeli band from Israel
Melechesh, originally from east Jerusalem, is one of the first
internationally signed metal bands from the Middle East and perhaps
the first band of non-Israelis to come out of Israel as well. `We
never had Israeli passports. We had Jerusalem IDs as permanent
residents. However, they are systematically being confiscated. Ours
got confiscated too,' he said, adding that the music was not the
reason. It was `demographic.'
The band left Israel in 1998 for France and then the Netherlands,
mainly because of the `second-rate citizen' status they had there.
`There is no infrastructure there for you [as a non-Israeli] for a
fair and proper life,' he said, adding that many youths of similar
status leave for education in Europe and the U.S. and stay - not to
mention Israelis who do not approve of the status quo and don't want
to serve as soldiers. The other major reason was to be able to advance
in their music careers.
Northern Europe has circles of extreme-right, black metal circles that
were infamous for murders and church burnings in the 90s, but
Melechesh did not have any problems with those. They are sometimes
confused for being Arabs, Jews or `Arabic Jews' even, which portrays
their IQ level, according to Ashmedi. `What they do not understand is,
being national socialist or Nazi is against everything they stand for
in metal because they would have to cut their hair, wear a uniform and
be royal,' he said.
A fan of Istanbul
`Last year I met a wonderful [Turkish] lady from Amsterdam, who was a
fan of the band. I fell in love with her, and she changed me for the
better,' Ashmedi said when asked how he started to share his time
between Amsterdam and Istanbul. He first came to Istanbul in July 2009
and kept coming back to the city.
When asked of expectations he had before, `I knew what to expect
because I come from a country with more or less the same lifestyle.
Some things I experience and see here are more liberal, but it changes
accordingly,' he said, adding that he only has seen Istanbul and not
the rest of the country.
`The thing that shocked me most is the amount of people. I have never
seen this many people in my life,' he said. Having lived in small
cities like Jerusalem and Amsterdam actually surprised Ashmedi when he
first set foot on Ä°stiklal Avenue. `I held my girlfriend's hand and
said let us walk by the wall. There are way too many people here,' he
laughed. `That was what I did not expect.'
Ashmedi has `a mission to put [Istanbul] on the world metal music map'
more than it already is. `Vibrant, alive, about to explode with
energy,' he described the European side of the city, and how he always
enjoy visiting Kadıköy on the Asian side to relax on Sundays.
Here, where there is a 24-hour economy allowing you can purchase
alcohol or go out to eat 3 a.m., also fascinates him - although paying
50 Turkish Liras for a wine he would buy for 20 in Europe, does not.
Apart from music and Turkey, he is also interested in talking about
the Palestine and the Armenian-Turkish issues, but off the record
because, although he is very politically aware, Ashmedi prefers not to
go into those subjects during interviews.
`We are a mystical band, not a political band. But our political view
is, we count the dead and we care about so many people getting
slaughtered,' he said. `We have so much more in common than we have in
difference. I might sound like a new age hippie, but, mind you, this
is after years of soul searching and evolution,' he said.
The music, lyrics and beyond
Melechesh does not like to be labeled as `Oriental metal.' Ashmedi
explained why: `[Oriental] is a term that was used in the colonial
days to just say `the East.' That is as far as China. Are Chinese and
Japanese bands Oriental metal? Is a Viking metal band or Metallica
Occidental metal?' The band themselves prefer the term `Sumerian
thrashing black metal,' which Ashmedi has come up with. `In the end,
we are a metal band with Eastern sounds, however, done in its own way
as well. The way we play the drums, the way we pick the guitar is
different.'
`Melechesh lyrics deal with Middle Eastern mythology and the occult,'
he said. When asked what those mean ` a discreet way to ask if the
band is Satanist, Ashmedi said, `In daily life, I try to be as normal
as I can be just like everyone else - that is if you can define
`normal.' On a spiritual level, I am a person who tries to learn a lot
and be spiritually enhanced by any means necessary - by looking at any
corner of the world and any subject.'
`A large portion of philosophies, theologies and mystical beliefs are
stamped from the Near East or the Middle East,' he said. Sufism,
Kabala, Sumerian and Mesopotamian mythology all inspire Ashmedi. He
described the Occult as `being in touch with yourself and realizing
the whole world is energy,' not necessarily performing rituals. In
short, Melechesh is not a Satanic band.
Recording in Istanbul
Their last album `Emissaries' did very well worldwide, selling over
25,000 copies - no small feat for an extreme metal band in the age of
mp3.
It has been four years since `Emissaries' because the band chose not
to rush their next release. The next album will likely appear more
quickly, though, since they have more material than they are recording
at the moment. Ashmedi said they chose to record in Turkey because
they want to practice what they preach as a band with both Western and
Eastern influences. Cahit Berkay from MoÄ?ollar and new age pop
musician Harun Kolçak are likely to perform as guests on the album as
well.