They say music is one of the most powerful tools when it comes to conveying a message, however the recognition of just how powerful a tool it is has meant that many artists have had their music banned or frowned upon by those who deem it to be unacceptable. However it is artists like, Norway-born Deeyah, who have fought for their freedom of expression and the human rights of many that exist in music and beyond. Deeyah is no stranger to the music scene; her career which started from a young age caused a fair amount of controversy, leading to a musical debate on the presence of Asian females in music. However her trials and tribulations, opened up doors for others who have gone through similar difficulties and it is through her many recent projects that she has created a platform for the ‘banned' to be heard and exposed. In light of her most recent project ‘Listen To The Banned', I catch up with Deeyah to learn a bit more of her past experiences and future ventures!

1) How did you get started in the music scene?

My dad has always loved music, and I think he wanted to be in music himself, he really was sad that he didn't get to learn the sitar, or some sort of instrument himself, but he taught himself a lot about music. When I was 7 he heard me singing outside, and he called me inside and he said “hey sing again, do exactly what you were doing outside do that right now in front of me.” So I did, and then the very next day he rounded up all of my barbies, my toys and put them in a black bag, grabbed my hand and took me outside and said “say bye bye”. He threw it away and gave me a little Casio keyboard to play instead and started me in music. I started taking lessons, practising and it all began from there.

2) Your dad was very much involved in music too, is it true he even started a music organisation?

Yep, when I was younger he had an organisation called Raga music society, and it was basically Pakistani and North Indian classical music, what he would do is bring over musicians from Pakistan and India to Norway, to introduce that music to western eyes and ears. It led to him arranging a lot of collaborations between Jazz musicians and Pakistani singers. So he loved music and whatever he could contribute to music to bring our music to the western people, he tried to do. So I had those musicians around the house from when I was little, so I was always exposed to it, and if it wasn’t them my dad would always be playing his albums. So music was lierally always around for me.

3) What was it like growing up in Norway?

It was unusual, all the schools I went to it was only myself and maybe one other Pakistani girl if I was lucky. But now if you go it is a lot more like London, but then I think it was very strange for the Norwegians, even though I was born and raised in Norway, they called me and people like me ‘foreigners'. There was a decent amount of racism, and there still is but I think they are getting more used to brown people. Growing up I was very rooted into our culture, was never allowed to speak Norwegian in the house, always had to speak Urdu or Punjabi, anytime me and my brother did try, my dad would yell “No Norwegian, Speak your own language”. He was really strict about our culture and traditions.

4) How did your upbringing shape your musical style?

My early training was pure, old traditional classical music, but what was great about my parents is they were very liberal minded, so even though they wanted me to be very rooted in our culture, they were always open to the fact that you should always have influence, they never said you shouldn't do or listen to western music. To them, music was music, but my dad always used to say, you need to learn our style of music first because it's the most complicated and oldest. So I was taught to learn the rules and then if I want to break them later, then I can. I am very thankful because the way I listen to music and the way I can understand music even today has a lot more depth to it then if I had not learnt that training. So it has shaped me in what kind of music I did and it has also shaped me in how I deal with music, how I hear it and how it affects me in general.

5)  Were there people in the Asian community that did not agree with your music career?

Yes from the beginning of my music career, I started at the age of 7 and I did one of my first television performances when I was 8, so I started very young and continued on. I would perform at festivals, Jazz shows, and world music events. The more attention I started getting when I was young, my dad got a lot of stick for from the Pakistani people, they would come to the house and give him a talking to, and say “we don't let our boys do this, why would you let your daughter do this, it is not acceptable for a good Muslim family to be doing music.” So at the beginning it was like that, then the better I did, it went from people just opposing it by talking about it to people who started confronting me as well, then eventually getting worse. We had to change our home phone at least 3 or 4 different times and I had people coming to my school claiming they need to talk to me and trying to get me in their car, so it was very intense.

6) What gave you the courage to carry on, despite all the disapproval and threats?

Well I also had a lot of support, I had more support than not. That has always been the case. But one of the things that have always been hard for me personally was the attention that Muslims get in Norway was really negative and was always connected to violence and drugs and way I came along they started writing about me in the newspapers, about this little girl who does music and was doing good things; I used to teach people about music even when I was young, so I did a lot of cross cultural and outreach positive projects. So I used to think for the first time we are getting a lot of positive attention in the newspapers, for once they were writing about Muslim and Pakistani without it being related to violence. The media were saying something nice so I thought that my community would be really proud of me to create something that was getting positive attention and when I found out that some people were still so angry at me, not proud or supportive, as a kid that was really difficult. I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t be supportive of someone doing something nice, all the people involved in gangs and doing bad things didn’t get the same stick that I did.

7) Was this the reason you chose to leave Norway and move to London?

Eventually it got to such a bad point where again the more success I would get the worse the problem would get, the more I had videos on TV, the more media I was in, the worse it got. I would get people confront me on the streets to the point where I could not leave the house on my own anymore, I always used to have people with me and at times they would also end up in fights because of me. So there wasn't any point for me to stay in Norway because I couldn't function or live a normal life and the amount of problems that my family got as well meant I had to go, so I bought a one way ticket to London . I had been to London when I was 12, and I remember feeling like I didn't stand out, and feeling like there is a lot more people like me, so I always had a bit of a soft spot for London. When I was in Norway the only place I could think about moving to was London , and when I came here I saw lots of Asian girls like myself, so I felt safe.

8) How did you find the music scene in London?

When I came to London , I remember asking my managers, why there was not another Asian female singer already in London . Because when I was in Norway I was a mainstream artist. So I questioned them as to why there was no Muslim female singer in the mainstream here, they would tell me not to worry, but I was worried because Asians have been in London a lot longer than in Norway , so I always had that in the back of my mind. Then eventually I found out why there wasn't one, and it was because the same problems are here as they are in Norway .

9) Do you feel that you could have received a lot more support from the Asian media?

I think the Asian media was very supportive of me, I actually think that he majority of the Asian community, and the Muslim communities were really supportive too. I've not experienced anything negative from the Asian media at all believe it or not, I actually found a lot of encouragement, I think where it could probably help more is once negative reactions start happening, I think if the Asian media can keep standing with you, I think that might really turn other people off from getting as loud as they get. I've had support from B4U, I've had a lot of support from many reporters, but I think it's a lot easier for boys to do what they do. There's a reason there is not more girls and I think the Asian media does support the girls but I think the community doesn't as much. I don't think the girls feel very encouraged, so I think we may have to go a little more out of our way to give a lot more support and backing to girls because we know that they are so far behind the boys and they get so much more stick than the boys. I think the Asian media did really support me though.

Nope I don't sing or perform anymore since 2006, I did one album but I didn't release it I just did it because it was something I wanted to do. I decided that I wanted to support other people now and its been really hard in some ways because I have been so involved in music since the age of 7 and I've always performed. But I found more happiness in supporting other people than myself, I never thought I would find anything else to do that I would love as much, and I think I have found it.


11) Tell us a bit about the ‘Listen To The Banned’ compilation C.D? How did you join forces with Freemuse for this project?

Freemuse is an organisation that supports freedom of musical expression; they also support the human rights of musicians all around the world. When I was going through some troubles they were very supportive of me, they were among the few people that did stand up and publically support me and were very understanding. I kept in touch with them for quite a while now, they produce reports and support artists who are going to court, one of the artists they helped recently in Pakistan was targeted by the Taliban, and they do a lot of work like that. So I asked them whether they had ever considered putting together an album that might help support the cause even more, for people that might not read your reports or be aware of some of the work you do but who love music and could be introduced to you through music. They said they had considered it but did not know how to do it because they are not music industry people, they are musicians but not in the industry. So I told them I may be able to help by seeing who I can find and we just started from there. It took a good couple of years to find the right people. To find the music, I went through all their databases of all the cases they had worked on, I had them suggest artists that they liked as well, so I went through piles of music and stories of artists. There we some I wanted to include but we weren't able to this time, some of them I wanted to include but we couldn't find the people who held the rights, because some had passed away and we couldn't find their family. Because of all the music that is out there this is probably going to end up being the first in the series.

12) Will there ever be a ‘Listen To The Banned’ live concert?

I would love to do a concert with them all, I have actually been asked that and I think it would be really good. Some of the artists probably won't be able to make it, but we could do it through Skype or whatever! I think that it would be really exciting to do, maybe even a tour. It was a really interesting process getting to listen to all this music and read through all the stories, then we had to find the right team of people to work on it, we needed people who understood it who wouldn't just throw it out there or put it in their draw. It comes out in the USA, end of this month, which I didn't expect but it will get a release there as well, distributed through Warner Brothers, so that will be good! Amnesty international in the UK have decided to support it, so it's not available through their website and catalogues, which is excellent. So it's got some great support, which I am pleased about because they deserve it.


13) You do a lot of work for Women’s rights, has this always been something that has been important to you?

My mum has always worked with women and kids, she used to be a teacher but in recent years she's a translator as well, so she works with a lot of refugees and women shelters, she has always been very involved with a lot of social issues and a lot of issues to do with especially women. So I have been exposed to it from a very young age and I've been exposed to some really bad things that I have seen in extended family. Especially when it comes to women's issues and human rights, it has always been a big passion of mine and some of the experiences that I've had combined with that has made it become something that I have to do.

14) Tell us a bit about the Sisterhood project you founded?

Sisterhood started in 2007, it was for young aspiring Muslim girls, born and raised around Europe , girls like me. I wanted to provide a platform for these girls to have their music heard, so we put out our own online mixtape for that, I also wanted them to have the opportunity to connect with each other and to be able to share their experiences, their good and bad times, their struggles, issues with family, with people outside, with the music industry or just the issues with writing music. I wanted to give them the support I never had, I had it from my family and from a lot of people but there was nothing like this for me, I didn't want these girls to feel some of the things I've had to feel or as alone as I've had to feel. I wanted them to have a bit more of a sisterhood and a bit more of a collective that they can turn to for any kind of difficulty, it doesn't have to be related to music it could be personal. So I started it that way, we did the mixtape, and I'll probably end up doing other projects beyond the music, whether it's writing, photography or art. Sisterhood is for our young girls, they don't have to be professional; it's more about encouraging them to be creative and to feel like it's ok to express yourself, your hopes and dreams and to find support to do that.

15) You are working on a documentary about honour killings, how is it coming along?

It is really hard! My background is music, although film is another creative experience but still, very hard. The minute the camera is off, people feel like they can share a lot more, so it's much harder to get it on camera. I started it a year and a half ago and I will probably finish it in another 6 months, its tough and the subject itself is horrific. The topic of women having the right to choose for themselves has always been something very important to me, in a different way, but not being allowed to do music as a profession, then the same root of the problem but in different shapes like not being able to pick your own partner is something that a lot of other women face. So that has always been very important to me, and the consequences different women face when they do make their own choices, and for people picking their own partner it may be forced marriages or honour killings, or violence, they are forced into positions that they don't really want, is very very important to me and to highlight that in different ways that I can is something that is important to me. And one of the ways was to highlight honour killings, because it is on the rise and its happening here. I would expect this in Pakistan, Iran, in our countries back home for our parents, but I wouldn't expect it to exist here where young incredible girls with so much talent and so much potential don't get to fulfil it and their lives are cut short – because why – because they fell in love. It's a very difficult process; it's a different medium for me completely. Its such a dark subject, it's a stain on our community, most of us know it's there but want to pretend like it isn't and just move on, but that's not going to fix it. We have to admit it exists and figure out a way of not doing this. There's nothing wrong with parents taking certain things personally, or having expectations of their children, but to punish your child in that way is wrong. So working on this has been very challenging, it will hopefully be done next year. Everyone is learning about it a lot more, but officials still don't know enough for where they could be as effective as they could be, because in many of the cases the girls did go and ask for help and they got turned away because they did not really understand what she was talking about or realise that this could happen, so they sent her back and because they sent her back she is now dead. So if we can help also educate the health system, the education system and the police – which are all 3 main areas where they may go for help, they need to be able to know enough – to where they can help them, believe them and be able to recognise she might be in trouble. Because most girls are not going to ask for help and the ones that do desperately need that help, and I don't think people realise how hard it is for a girl to do that, and she may not have two chances, it might just be the one time, so whoever she meets at the police station, or her teacher or doctor, they have to take her seriously.


16) Where can we find out more about your work and plans?

You can find me on Facebook : Deeyah
http://www.listentothebanned.com/
http://sisterhoodnetwork.org/