Beste Hira: A tale of two cities

Beste Hira. Shot by Studio Mimik for Hedon Sonance — Beste Hira. Picture Hedon Sonance / Annelies Kietselaer

Beste Hira moved from Istanbul to Amsterdam almost a year before the pandemic hit. Even in this short period of time, she was already making waves as a DJ and producer in the Netherlands. In Turkey, she gained a lot of experience playing records and producing tracks, but also studying and playing classical cello and piano. Without clubs and festivals as an outlet, she used the past year getting better at producing and recording more of her own music, which extends well beyond the confines of techno. HEDON Sonance paid her a visit to talk about her history and plans for the near future, about clubbing in Amsterdam and Istanbul and even a bit about classic rock. And of course, we posed the usual excruciating question to name just three favourite tracks.

I find myself at a high level of a brand new apartment building in Amsterdam’s Slotervaart district, coming out of the rain. Standing in her doorway, Beste Hira welcomes me inside. In the spacious apartment, two of her friends hang around working behind a laptop. Beste makes some tea and she offers to enjoy a cigarette on the balcony together, taking in the view. Back inside on the sofa, she starts to talk freely about her background.

How did you get into electronic music?
“I have been playing classical cello and piano from a young age, and went on to study music in high school and at the conservatory. That was in Samsun, a city on the Black Sea coast. I’m from a musical family, my father is a pianist and my brother produces music for tv and movies. He’s also a sound engineer, mastering for big artists in Turkey. Around five years ago, my brother and I started making music together. My brother taught me to use music production software, which I used to combine my cello parts with digitally produced music. Around that time, I was also starting to play DJ sets just for fun, at home parties with friends. At one of these parties, I was playing out of a van, people could hear it on the streets. A promoter heard me and came to talk to me because he liked my style. He encouraged me to do a course in Ableton (well known music production software - HS). From there it got more serious. I continued DJing and producing while working as a music teacher”.

Why did you move to Amsterdam?
“The main reason was that my father moved there for his work. But also, the kind of music I like to play is more popular here than in Turkey, I have better perspectives in the Netherlands. And the political situation in Turkey makes it less attractive to stay there, a lot of clubs had to close in the past five years”.

How did you restart your career in Holland?
“It came very naturally, again through playing at friends’ parties. I DJ’ed at a wedding of two guys for example. I went to parties a lot, where I met people very easily. At Eerste Communie I got into contact with people from the Orphic collective, which is a group of DJ’s and producers that tries to help and learn from each other. After some time I was asked to do a live stream at Orphic’s platform. And at the same day, I got to play a live stream for Vice’s Club in the Cloud. During the lockdown, I didn’t have a working permit yet so I had a lot of time for producing music. I released the EP Bordo on the Schimmer label, and contributed single tracks to albums with various artists from other labels. The last one I did for Cérémonie, which will be released in the near future. It will be my first vinyl release!”

How did you discover techno?
“I got to know other electronic music first and gradually got into techno from there. Maybe it all started with Tiësto when I was 12, she smiles. But in high school electro and house got my attention and then I found techno. It was the vibe at the parties that drew me at first. It’s so comfortable to socialize and everyone is looking out for each other. People are at the same level through listening to the same music. And then the feeling when everyone loves a track together”!

You seem to have a very broad musical taste, with a classical background and a love for electronic music. But on top of that, you even reworked a Genesis track?!
“Yes, that was when I was first experimenting with producing. I love the track Mama, but liked to add a beat instead of the slow (but great) drum claps by Phil Collins. I like classic rock I guess! I also enjoy Guns ’n Roses, AC/DC and Judas Priest. And I have great love for Dream Theatre, a progressive rock band with very long tracks consisting of different parts that somehow always come together in the end”.

Please tell me a bit about the electronic music scene in Istanbul, and how it compares to Amsterdam.
“There’s some big electronic music festivals in Turkey, but it’s mostly about techhouse and stuff like Solomun does. That’s wat is most popular there. Sometimes there’s a techno stage on a festival, for instance I played at a psytrance festival in Antalya. But for proper techno, you could go to underground clubs like Cloister, Temple and Roxy. Cloister was great, with 5 stages and one on a rooftop. Most of the clubs were to be found around Taksim square. But like I said, a lot of them had to close because the conservative government doesn’t support the lifestyle that goes with it. A complaint about noise is enough to shut a club down. But there’s always been nice illegal parties as well, in the mountains for instance. And private house parties. For me, it doesn’t matter if it’s a big stage or just 50 people. The size is not important, as long as the people in front of me really get into the music. I like it small and underground”.

“Coming to Amsterdam, my first party was Katharsis. I was blown away by the diversity of musical styles. I went to de School almost every week and visited Spielraum at Radion. I met my big hero Freddy K at an afterparty at Lofi, which was wonderful. He was interested in my music and we still keep in touch, sometimes he gives feedback on my tracks. I also remember great sets by SPFDJ and Afra. The sound here in Amsterdam is so different from Istanbul, I hear a lot of influences and tracks from the 2000’s, and DJ’s dare to use very different electronic styles to mix with techno. They seem to have a bigger frame of reference”.

Tell me about your DJ sets. They seem to differ quite a lot in speed and mood.
“That’s correct. Playing live, I like faster tempos best, playing the closing set of a night. I love to use slower records and see how they turn out when played fast. But in my podcasts and livestreams I like to explore different moods. My podcast for Orphic for example just starts at 130 BPM, on the slow side. It speeds up to 140 BPM and back again, to create something of a narrative with a beginning, middle part and an end. When I DJ before a crowd, it’s more spontaneous, I look at the people and try to give them what they need at that moment”.

What is your experience as a female DJ?
“I never really had any trouble if that’s what you mean. Maybe it’s been even easier for me than for a guy. There’s not a lot of female Turkish techno DJ’s, so I stand out. I’m not the only one though, you should check out Nene H. And I get support from other women”.

Your own productions are a whole different story from your DJing, quite a few deep and slow tracks in there. For instance your track Oceaan Ogen.
“Yes, in my productions I just want to reflect my mood, and techno doesn’t always fit with that. I like to add dub sounds, minimal sounds and vocals. I see it this way: I’m a musician, I can do virtually anything and that doesn’t have to be techno. Although maybe it would be better for me commercially to do just one thing. I’m inspired by Truncate for example, he does dubstyle this time, house another time, also techno, or he mixes them”.

What are your plans for the near future? Do you already know where you will play, when hopefully restrictions will be lifted?
“There’s no exact dates yet, but I hope to be playing at a party by Antidote in Amsterdam, or a night organised by Schimmer Records from Stuttgart. But I have lots of other plans as well, like studying musical therapy, being a primary school teacher and learning Dutch. And the next few weeks I want to start teaching piano again”.

At my request Beste Hira selected three tracks that are inspirational to her, although she would have loved to name a lot more.

“This is a minimal track which is also very melodic at the same time. It’s very hypnotic and trance-like. It makes me imagine my dreams, being awake. It feels like something from nature, it’s genius!”

“An older track, from 1998. It has a great old school feel. A nice dub sound, but energetic, not too dark”.

“Very groovy, but to me, also very emotional. It makes me happy and sad at the same time, I really lost myself in this one. It also has a nice sci-fi feel to it”.

Text by André Kamphuis