EQUATE Introducing Bahghi

Read the feature below…

Words and interview by Danielle Temeng

EQ: Hi Bahghi, firstly, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and how your love for music came about?

B: Hi! So, my name is Bahghi. I was born and raised in Amsterdam in an Eritrean household. I’ve always had a big love for music and books. I think mostly because I enjoyed the feeling of being immersed in a different universe for a while. My parents always enjoyed having music playing in the house and the music was very varied too; Jazz, African, Classical European, Blues, Chansons, you name it! Early on, playing music became my passion as well, as I started playing the violin when I was five years old. Although I’ve always enjoyed the art of writing, I only started writing songs in my twenties.

EQ: Who would you cite as your musical inspirations?

B: Erykah Badu, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder & Bob Marley

EQ:…and was music always the path you planned to follow or did you ever consider something else?

B: Since I can remember I wanted to do “something” with music. Whether it would be on or off stage I hadn’t decided yet. At the age of sixteen, I started singing more seriously, but it wasn’t until attending the Conservatory of Amsterdam and actually only after graduating that I decided that performing, writing and recording music is what I want to go for. The other option would have been helping people one way or another. Not a very elaborate thought, haha. But I guess you could say that I can also fulfil that goal through my music.

EQ: Growing up in Amsterdam and with a strong Eritrean background, how did those two cultures influence your artistry?

B: To be very honest, my Eritrean background was for a long time, not something I was proud of. I grew up in a predominantly white and elite environment, where being from African descent wasn’t seen as something positive. It led to me rejecting my culture to some extent in order to fit in. Only at a later age, I grew to appreciate and embrace my Eritrean heritage. Contrary to my young peers at the time I have always been attracted to “old” music alongside the “popular” music at the time. Be it classical, jazz or rhythm & blues.

EQ: Congratulations on the release of your first single ’25’, which was actually released on your birthday. What was the creative process like behind the single?

B: Thank you! The first idea of the lyrics for ’25’ I had written to a YouTube beat some time ago. When my brother and I were at my mom’s place one afternoon, he showed me this beat he had been working on. I instantly fell in love with the vibe and could hear the lyrics and a new melody for ’25’ fitting perfectly, so I asked him if he could send it to me so I could work out the song.

I had been mainly working on some acoustic material at the time and I was very eager to release some music in November as a promise to myself. As the month approached, it seemed more and more fitting to release ’25’ on my birthday. Closing the year of being twenty-five with a recap of the year through the lyrics and a looking back at my youth with the video clip.

“…‘25’ is about being grateful for all the lessons I’ve learned, including realizing I am enough the way I am, and I have the power to stand on my own feet.”

- BAHGHI

EQ: The song is a poignant coming of age story that discusses themes of growth and self-reflection. Would you say it was a cathartic experience to write and release this?

B: Becoming twenty-five in general, really! It has been a year different than any other for so many reasons. I got to do a lot of self-reflection and self-realisation.

EQ:…and looking back a decade, if you could give one piece of advice to your 15-year old self, what would it be and why?

B: Continue doing you, my love! I don’t think I realized enough (and I still forget sometimes) that being me is what makes me special, as there’s no other person like me.

EQ: What are the top three tracks that you would say have defined your quarter-century so far, and why?

B: Green Eyes – Erykah Badu: The storytelling, the different music styles in one song, the vulnerability, and the humour. I’ve known this song since my pre-teen years and I love every part of it to this day!

Azara Alhai – Rasha: This Sudanese artist was being played a lot in our house growing up. There was I time I hadn’t listened to her in a while, but since a few years she’s been back into my life and her voice always warms my heart. I love the saxophone special in this song and I remember that as a child I enjoyed this song of hers in particular.

Toast – Koffee: Although this is a very recent one, I think that the message of the song is so strong it is already a timeless classic. I heard this song for the first time at Christmas last year and I was struck by radiant positivity of the track and video. It was a moment that will stay with me for a while.

EQ: …and how have you found quarantine and the lockdowns we’ve lived through so far. Have you developed any new mantras to help you cope?

B: When the lockdown started back in March I was living in Groningen, a city in the northern part of the Netherlands, staying with a woman I now call my spiritual mother. At the start of the lockdown, we decided to do a ten-day DIY Vipassana retreat. Meditating five times a day for one and a half hours and no talking. I think that the inner peace that the experience gave me, and being in her presence in itself, helped me to cope with it quite well, especially in the beginning. In September I saw the chance to follow my dreams and travel to Zanzibar, where I also shot the “modern” parts for the video clip of 25. Since the situation back in the Netherlands has gotten worse again, I currently don’t see a reason for coming back so soon 😉

Remember to breathe, let go & let God!

EQ: Now that your music is out there for the world, what can we expect from you in 2021? Do you have any exciting projects on the horizon that you can give us an EQUATE exclusive on?

B: Definitely more music and more music videos! And apart from that, who knows? These times ask for new ways of thinking, so we’ll see what the result of that will be.

YouTube/Bahghi

Stream ’25’ HERE

Keep up with Bahghi on socials

Instagram: @bahghi_