We are Haider and Kas, artists from Kazakhstan who are both currently based in The Netherlands.

In Kazakh ‘bulbul’ means ‘nightingale’ and it derives from Persian word for the same bird. This bird is often part of the concept ‘gul-u bulbul’ (flower and nightingale), which refers to the flower gardens and the nightingales in the love poetry of the Persianate world. Modern-day pop songs in Central Asia, although using a contemporary Turkic vocabulary and sound, still borrow their musical and lyrical inspirations from those traditions, which happened before the Russo-Ottoman attempts to erase these Persianate influences. By further fleshing out these concepts in an experimental way, both lyrically and sonically, Haider & Kas also focus on the homoerotic aspect of those ghazals.

Haider has a background in literature, philosophy, and graphic design. Combining graphic, sculptural and poetic mediums, Haider tries to bring a ‘melancholic dreamscape’ vision into his art. He often draws influences from historic Central Asian / Persianate poetry verses, folk myths and Sufi texts. He strives to express sensual and spiritual transformations, the concept of ‘beauty’ and its destruction through his art.

Kas’s background is in digital art and music composition, with a practice focused on connecting and (re)interpreting visual and sonic aspects of migrant and diasporic experiences. Kas’s current research interest is in synergising Central Asian musical rhythms and textures with approaches employed in electronic music and algorithmic composition.