Double Mix

Before she became a DJ,she would write essays and articles for magazines in Berlin on issues that ranged from identity politics to homosexuality. “I am originally from Turkey and am gay; I felt the need to write about it,especially because Germany has a large number of Turkish migrants. Parents,family members and society at large need to know that they (homosexuals) have a right to co-exist without any discrimination,” she says.

Ipek began performing at Berlin’s famous SO36 club located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin in the late nineties. By the early 2000’s,she had progressed to playing at other clubs across Europe. Her music style combines her Turkish and middle-eastern influences with that of the European club scene. Her album Beyond Istanbul,was well received by critics within and outside Germany. Ask her about the club scene in Berlin and she says,“Berlin never sleeps. Parties begin in clubs at 5 am and go on till 5 am the next day. The most popular sounds are techno and electronic. It’s a wild crazy lot of party people there.”

Music has become her top priority in the recent past. “I have not written for a few months now,” she says,”but I’m glad to see that in the last one decade identity discrimination has reduced significantly.”