The Obelisk Questionnaire: Nina Saeidi of Lowen
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Nina Saeidi of Lowen
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I am the front-person and manager of the Middle Eastern prog doom band Lowen. I sing in Farsi, Sumerian, Akkadian and English using traditional Iranian techniques and instruments amidst crushing guitars and bass.
The band started when I met our now-guitarist in the front row of an Akercocke show in London and told him I’d always wanted to make heavy music that was rooted in the eastern music I grew up hearing. Nine months later we found that we had written our debut album A Crypt in the Stars.
Describe your first musical memory.
I was three years old and my chubby legs were dangling off a piano stool as a teacher splayed my awkward child-hands out across the keys. I was overwhelmed by the size and distance of everything about the piano and the way the stool engulfed me in the plain white practise room above a music shop that smelled like rosin and fresh instrument cases.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I simply can’t pick a single moment that stands out as I have so many incredible memories. All of them share a single theme of feeling immense connection with others, be they other musicians or people who I have met at shows. The uniting force of music is something for which I am incredibly grateful.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I never believed someone like me could be in a heavy metal band. I didn’t think anyone would care about Middle Eastern prog doom. My belief in that has been fully tested and flipped around, and I am so glad for it.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Hopefully it leads to more art.
How do you define success?
In the context of music I would define it as having the means to produce your work with less financial and psychological stress and resistance.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
People defending racism in music.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I would love to make an extended music video that functions as a short film in the style of Jodorowsky.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Alain de Botton describes art as advertising for what we really need, for the most important ideas in the world. I think his definition is the closest to the truth of what it is and how it functions.
I believe that art is expression captured and then distorted through the interpretation of an audience. The essential function of this is the creation of connection. All communication contains distortion through some loss of intended meaning, yet art is the purest attempt to do so. It can supercharge empathy, compassion, healing and understanding. Essentially this can change the mind and change the world.
The most important function of art is to communicate the essence of what it is to be human, as well as what it is to be a better human.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I absolutely cannot wait for the new Wheel of Time series and the next instalment of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson! It has been such a great year for fantasy and science fiction. With the next Dune film coming out in 2023 it feels good to know that there are a lot of great things coming to keep us enthralled until then.
https://www.facebook.com/Lowenband/
https://www.instagram.com/lowen_band/
https://www.lowen.bandcamp.com
