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 Beyoğlu 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 İstiklal 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 Moğollar and new age pop musician Harun Kolçak are likely to perform as guests on the album as well.

By Özgür Ögret
www.hurriyetdailynews.com