.aesthetic talk
Astrit Ismaili
Bloom Unapologetically
written Monica de Luna
Astrit Ismaili, a trailblazer in the realms of performance art and experimental pop, crafts a sonic world where transformation is a lived reality. "The First Flower" project emerges as a vibrant testament to Ismaili's ingenious fusion of sound, narrative, and a profound exploration of identity.
Through an album that transcends conventional music boundaries, Ismaili plunges into the heart of queer experiences, challenging societal norms with every note. This interview unveils the layers of Ismaili's artistic vision, where the act of blooming becomes a bold statement against the backdrop of a world grappling with beauty standards, gender dysphoria, and the quest for queer visibility. With "The First Flower," Ismaili narrates the tale of transformation and at the same time embodies it, inviting listeners to witness the power of metamorphosis and the beauty of becoming.
Astrit Ismaili
art Ville Vidoe
styled GH
hair + make up Elvi
prosthetist + assistant Simon Marsiglia
garments Tra My Nguyen
“Music, especially the singing voice, has transformational properties. It transcends words, becoming universal. My goal is for the music to be catchy, leaving the public with a piece in their head and heart.”
Astrit Ismaili speaks with Monica de Luna
LE MILE Magazine TRANCE, Nr. 36
Monica de Luna
Your work as a performance artist delves into the transformational potential of bodies and spaces. How do you approach the fusion of experimental pop music and performance to explore this concept?
Astrit Ismaili
I believe that music, and especially the singing voice, has transformational properties. The voice, produced from within, and the melodies can often be transcendental. Words that are sung add an emotionality that somehow makes it surpass the meaning of the actual words, therefore it becomes more universal. For me, it is important that the music I make is catchy so that the public leaves the performance with a piece of music in their head and heart!
"The First Flower" project is derived from your previous performance work titled 'MISS.' Could you tell us how the transition from performance to an experimental pop music album took place and what themes you carried over from 'MISS'?
I compose music for all my performances, including ‘MISS’. However, this is the first time that the music of the performance has become an album with the intention to connect with the public outside the realm of live performance. The album deals with many different subjects but is mainly about the courage to transform and ‘bloom’ in hostile environments, and by doing so, not only changing themselves but also the surroundings around them, just like the first flower on earth, which is the totem of the album.
In "The First Flower," you explore the perspective of the world's first flower undergoing physical and spiritual transitions. How did you use this unique perspective to address issues such as beauty standards, gender dysphoria, and queer realities within the context of your album?
The transformation of a plant into the first flower on earth, which is believed to have happened hundreds of thousands of years ago, has indeed revolutionized the entire ecosystem. Knowing that a lot of organisms on earth depend on flowering plants and exist thanks to them. On the other hand, this change came with a big price. The commodification of nature and the extraction of natural resources has brought us to a climate emergency. The songs speak about the industrialization of flowers and climate change but also about queer phenomena that, within the botanical world, happen naturally and undisturbed. The story of the first flower is used as a metaphor to talk about my experience as a queer person navigating environments that work against queerness. Some songs are also quite political and personal and speak about the struggle of identities that are fighting for their political existence in society.
You mentioned using the first flower as a metaphor for queer experience and transformation. Could you dive deeper into how you developed this metaphor throughout the album? Were there any personal experiences or historical events that influenced its integration?
In the song 'Queer Garden,' among other things, the lyrics talk about the sexual fluidity of plants. For example, Avocado trees seamlessly transition between male and female reproductive phases within a span of 36 hours. During the day, they unfurl pollen-producing flowers, while by night, they bloom with pollen- receiving buds. Similar examples exist in nature, and over hundreds and thousands of years, while in our societies, anything that doesn't fit the patriarchal system is oppressed. I, like most queer people, have to navigate in societies that cater to heteronormativity, and metaphorically speaking, "blooming" unapologetically in these environments feels like an image of a flower growing out of concrete.
The album showcases a stylistic hybridity of performance art pop, hyper, gabber, and glam, along with contemporary sound design. How did you decide on these stylistic elements, and how do they contribute to the album's narrative?
The album represents an eclectic selection of genres that somehow influenced me, consciously and unconsciously, in my upbringing. In general, the melodies are quite pop and catchy, but the structures of the songs are actually fighting the traditional structure of a pop song. The songs in the album are rather way longer than the usual songs, and the lyrics are definitely not the basic love songs that one can hear on the radio nowadays. I guess, coming from performance, my approach to writing lyrics is a way to tell non-linear stories, as well as to fabulate, speculate, and be playful. The narrative and the unconventional way of how I compose the melodies for this album asked for a more unique music production approach. The decision to work with different producers for each song and sometimes even a few producers in one song allowed for different references and ideas to come together, and voila, this is what came out!
Your work often involves alter egos, body extensions, and wearable musical instruments. How do these elements help you embody different possibilities for becoming, and what role do they play in your creative process?
Through alter-egos, body extensions, and wearable musical instruments, I try to expand the human body beyond its norms. I question distinctions between natural and artificial, real and fiction, body and machine. By doing so, I want to understand where our bodies start and end and how this extension relates to current socio-political contexts in relation to gender and identity.
“Femininity, like flowers, is seen as delicate but is actually resilient and intelligent. I believe masculinity and femininity exist in nature beyond gender, and I showcase oppressed notions as empowering.”
Astrit Ismaili speaks with Monica de Luna
LE MILE Magazine TRANCE, Nr. 36
Astrit Ismaili
You've touched on reinterpreting femininity within your work. Could you expand on how this exploration has evolved over your career? Are there other aspects of identity politics you're interested in exploring through your future work?
The use of wearable musical instruments, body extensions, and fiction in my work are tools to somehow move further from the bodies and identity questions that we are dealing with today. To be honest, identity politics bore the hell out of me; I wish we did not have to deal with it at all. However, the environment is pressing us to deal with urgent concrete matters because they really affect my life and then also my work. So I find myself in between telling stories that seem urgent and using my voice politically, but more importantly, contemplating future bodies, new bodies, and other possibilities of becoming, referencing material from academia, biology, science fiction, etc.
You've been active in the Kosovo children's music scene since the early 2000s. How has your background in music composition and singing influenced your approach to performance art and experimental music?
Well, I've realised there's a power in being able to do it on your own. So, of course, you never do anything really alone, which is also an illusion, but this thing of working intuitively with the process and not splitting it too much up into parts is something I learned a lot. I think has been working for me and makes it interesting for me to go back to it as kind of my own technique of making music.
And then in terms of next projects, you said you're working on new music, right?
From a very young age, I've been surrounded by women musicians, and singing as a child with my sister surely left a mark on my artistic journey. My grandmother had a great voice and was always singing and telling stories around the house. My mother, Selvete Krasniqi, is a music composer, and she introduced us to music and art. As a teenager, I worked at a radio station and had the chance to listen to and select new music for my show. While doing so, I loved guessing who would be a star. I was right a few times; for example, I guessed that Gaga, Amy Winehouse, and Adele would be big stars when they just came out, and they were. I loved playing that game! Later, but still quite young, I directed a music video for 'E dehun' by Era Istrefi, one of the biggest pop stars in Kosovo. Naturally, pop music became my main field of research, always seeking new sounds, aesthetics, and live pop performances interested in the use of fashion, art, and social questions by pop stars.
However, my obsession with pop music took a different approach and direction in my practice. At first, I was fascinated by the impact of pop music on society. I adopted pop music songwriting and pop performativity in my practice, but my approach was more spatial, experimental with a goal to explore the transformational potential of bodies and spaces. The performance art scene allowed me to take a more conceptual approach and also freed me from the weight of being an entertainer, which is something I am not so interested in my practice. Making this album now has made it very clear that I will continue recording my music in the future. Reaching the public through recorded music is another outlet that creates more accessibility in my work, and I am definitely interested in that!
Can you share how your collaboration with artists like Mykki Blanco and Colin Self shaped the sound and narrative of "The First Flower"?
This project is indeed a dream project. Having the opportunity to work with Mykki Blanco, someone I looked up to for many years who has inspired me and an entire generation with their courageous presence and their cutting-edge work. It's been a total honor to work with Mykki, and their contribution in ‘Miss Kosovo’ has definitely elevated the song artistically and politically, making the song, I believe, an anthem for the underrepresented identities who are fighting to be recognized and acknowledged.
Colin Self produced ‘Voices’, a very personal song to me which actually speaks about my experience of the Kosovo war. Me and Colin are also friends, and they produced a song that is indeed one of my favorites in the album. Working with them has been so inspiring and safe; it's always beautiful working with queer peers and supporting each other. I love our beautiful connection and friendship and appreciate Colin's work as an artist, and I am blessed to have a song with this great artist and friend.
In your artistic practice, femininity is seen through a queer lens as a transformational force. How does your exploration of femininity intersect with your examination of pop culture and identity politics through music and performance?
Flowers seem to be considered feminine and delicate, fragile which usually in society have a connotation to weakness and naivety. But in reality, their story is one of intelligence, sophistication, beauty, and resilience. I feel the same about femininity; I believe both masculinity and femininity exist in nature in different shapes and qualities outside sex and gender. Our bodies are made of both and more. I am always interested in working with notions that are oppressed and showcasing them as empowering.
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all images (c) Astrit Ismaili