Mutali Moskeu / Kazakhstan
Mutali Moskeu is an artist and DJ from Almaty, Kazakhstan.He's also a TikTok creator and LGBT!+ activist. He started his career in 2018 when he started organising GROOVCHIK parties with his friends. It was dedicated to street dance culture, eco-activism, queer, vogue and many more.
Which music, art, culture influenced you and why?
I think that I’m mostly influenced by pop culture even though I couldn’t accept it for a very long time. Pop culture is perceived as something basic so I always wanted to be associated with indie and underground electronic music. But now I realize that these 3 genres equally shaped me as a person.
I really love how pop music is immediate and accessible. Music is here to unite us, among other purposes, so I use this approach in my mixes as well. Underground electronic music is what my sets are filled with mostly and I choose to play it because I love how it can push the norms yet be predictable at the same time. Sometimes we all need things to be predictable to feel secure and this feeling is one of the most important ones for me.
When it comes to indie music, my favorite part about it is how it can be cheerful, quirky and mysterious — these are qualities that I value in others and I think they prevail in my lifestyle and clothing too.
How’s your music is different? What are you trying to tell with your music and mixes?
What I think makes my music stand out is that how’s it’s always catchy and happy. Even if it’s sad or dark, it will still be bold because it’s important for me to communicate everything clearly in all parts of my life including music. Also I’m never afraid to mix all the existing genres, I love it when my mixes are as eclectic as it is possible because life is so multifaceted and I want everyone to remember about it always.
Who would be an artist/DJ of all times you’d like a collaboration with?
One of the artists who happen to be a producer as well that I’m always in awe with is James Blake. I love his vocals, I find his lyrics unique, I often relate to his worldview and of course the production of his that is always on point and sometimes ahead of its time. Moreover his music is usually sad and stripped back which is the opposite of what I mostly consume but I’m still addicted to his craft and I think it would be a great experience to get to know him better.
What are you plans and goals for the future?
It’s been more than a year since I wrote music so creating a new track is something that I wish I do soon. Also creating more content for TikTok is always among my priorities.
What is freedom for you?
Freedom is having inner strength to express yourself in whatever way you want and love who you want.
Tell us about your mix for LVBZ?
My mix is about the journey I’ve been through to reach the life that I have now. The order of tracks represent what kind of music and art I loved at certain period of my life or was mostly exposed to. How my childhood and teenage years as a gay boy weren’t the best but I managed to face and win over all the challenges to finally become my authentic self. It also captures the moment of how my occasional listening to electronic music led me to clubbing culture in Almaty and how it became the big part of my life.
This mix has some tracks that I played at different parties before which I think were somehow the highlights that formed my image as a DJ. On the other hand, there are some tracks that I never played at parties even though I wanted to probably because they were too much in my opinion. Including them now for me is like accepting the parts of myself that I used to hide from others before because I don’t wanna be ashamed of what I am anymore. In overall I think this mix is a great depiction of the first 3 years of my career as a DJ.
What is your favourite track in the mix?
My favorite track is Pepermint by Julio Bashmore featuring vocals by Jessie Ware. I put it as the closing one because it perfectly describes how I feel about myself now: super queer and proud of it. This track is so joyful and bold - this is how I see my life now and want it to be in the future. Also this is one of the first tracks that made me realize that I love house music which was long before I became a DJ, and it’s interesting how I sort of got back to what was the beginning of it all. It’s like the truth was always here with me. But I appreciate the path and am ready to embrace new ones.
Which moment is the most touching/emotional moment in your mix and why?
The very first seconds of the mix, specifically the track Falkor’s Return by Indecorum that samples the part of The Never-ending Story, my childhood movie. “Why it’s so dark in the beginning? It is always dark” describes how I think early years of my life were. Also that line perfectly captures the sadness of the movie itself, the feeling that in my opinion sits in the core of nostalgia. And thanks to nostalgia which makes things look pleasant in our memory I don’t hate my childhood that much. Moreover I accept it the way it was because it helped me become who I am now and I’m happy with myself.
Tell us more about your Kazakhstan. How music & culture from your region is different from other parts of the world?
Because of the fact that people mostly speak Kazak and Russian, we have many artists that make bilingual songs. Another huge part of Kazakstani identity is toi culture, where toi means a wedding, the one that is celebrated in accordance with a lot of traditions. Tois even have their own style of music, that is usually very fun and danceable tracks, borderline kitch. For quite a long time this sort of music was considered cheesy, but many people started embracing toi music and accepting it as it is. Toi culture itself has always been huge among Kazak people, especially due to the fact of having hundreds of people to celebrate it with. However tois are no longer the way the were as we now live in the world of Covid-19.
How is queer culture developed and percieved in your region? Do you see any shift over the past years?
Unfortunately there is none of positive queer representation in mainstream culture of Kazakstan. However there are many artists in different areas who identify as LGBTQ and queer. One of the recent projects that received some good PR coverage was an independent movie called Welcome To the USA about a queer woman who makes a decision to move to America. This movie was directed by Asel Aushakimova, a female director and won the main prize of The New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival.
When it to comes to art, there is a paper by Saltanat Shoshanova called Queer identity in the contemporary art of Kazakhstan. It discusses artworks created by artists Saule Dyussenbina, Natalya Dyu and Kuanish Bazargaliyev, the artistic duo Kreolex Center, and the advertising agency Havas Worldwide Kazakhstan. Shoshanova discovered that a lot of Kazakstani queer art is humorous and incorporates national or historical attributes or people.
There is also one phenomenon in comedy genre of men dressing as women. For example, one of the most popular films in Kazakstani history is Kelinka Sabina in which a man plays a role of a woman, some weird sort of drag. This kind of makeover is used by many other male actors in sketches, another popular style of comedy.
Tell us 3 things about your region, which might surprise others.
1) Probably the most famous one is that Kazak people eat the horse meat. It’s been a tradition for centuries.
2) Many Kazak people don’t speak Kazak fluently as it is considered to be not cool. This is a huge colonial trauma. Fortunately there are many people who realize the importance of decolonization and try to improve their Kazak and knowledge of the culture including me.
3) As in every patriarchal culture there are many families that want to give a birth to a boy. If they can’t have one after several tries they might name their daughters Ulbosyn, Ulzhan, Ultuar which translate as “let the next child be a boy”, “the soul of the boy” and “the one who would probably give a birth to a boy” in hope of having a boy/son in their family one day. However I feel like my generation is getting rid of this thing.
Name 3 artists from your playlist which we should pay attention to and why?
I decided to make a playlist of Kazak songs that are special for me. These are the tracks that I listened to a lot through out my life so it might include some obvious ones. But I feel like they perfectly represent what Kazakstan was like in a certain period of time.
However many artists in this list are not active anymore. But I would still recommend you to give a listen to Moldanazar who is probably the most famous indie artist in our country. He also created his label and Ali, who is in my playlist as well, is one of the artists whom he signed recently. Ali is a very young singer but I feel like he is one of those who we should watch out for as he is so sincere and relatable for the new generation.
The third artist that you should give a listen to is Musicola. There is no other artist who sounds like this mostly thanks to Karina Abdullina’s unique voice. In cooperation with Bulat Syzdykov they managed to create some great productions with Kazak folklore music. They are definitely one of the O.G. Kazakstani artists.
Enjoy a fine selection of local music which Mutali Moskeu kindly selected for LVBZ.