HOSSEI has a lot to do in the lead up to the premiere of his first musical.
“I’m having 5,000 meetings, sending 5,000 emails — it’s a whole big thing. I’m jumping from finalising tracks with Harry, to sewing with Tanya and hot glue-gunning things,” the Sydney-based artist says.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m so tired, but you know, that’s show business, and I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”
HOSSEI’s experimental performance THUNDERBLOOM-LIVE has been 10 years in the making. It features lightning-effects, back-up singers, a vibraphone player and hot pink costumes — the artist’s signature colour.
“You’re gonna see lots of flowy fabrics, blowing in the wind. We really wanted to create this drama where you felt like the storm, the hurricane was there with you — so there’s going to be like six fans blowing us away.”
There’s also another special element to this performance: HOSSEI’s mother, Nahid, as the star.
HOSSEI says people like his mum can become invisible in society — “my whole point is…they still can contribute, they are so important.” (Supplied: HOSSEI)
Described as an original “sci-fi Persian pop musical” the performance explores ideas of healing and care, with humour and heart.
“I feel a bit cheesy because this is kind of like a love letter to my mum. So in a sense, I’m weirdly being like, ‘I love you, Mum,'” he says with a laugh.
It’s a performance exploring what happens when a mother and son try to “recalibrate” their relationship, and what you can imagine and discover when you add creativity and collaboration into this dynamic.
A still from the video version of THUNDERBLOOM, which inspired the live performance. (Supplied: HOSSEI)
HOSSEI’s work has been described as bringing “joy [and] warm laughter” to serious contemporary art spaces, and this one is no different. It’s a show described as celebrating “life, love and the power of connection”.
HOSSEI (he goes by the one name, basically a Western Sydney Beyoncé) is not your regular artist.
He’s spent years weaving together performance, costumes, movement and sound to create his own distinctly vibrant, humorous — and caring — approach to art.
And he’s not afraid of being “silly” when it comes to art: “You have to be! Why so serious?”.
HOSSEI works across all sorts of artistic mediums, like installation, video, performance and costumes — “but you never know, like next year I might become like a poet”. (ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss)
In U.F.O — showing now at the Blacktown Arts Centre’s Makers Space — he’s built a fantastical outer-space inspired world, where people can release “Uncontrollable Feelings Occasionally!”.
In ESSSENSSSE (2024) he created hyper-coloured sea-creaturely costumes, which transformed a gallery plaza into a fantastical aquatic underworld, evoking joyous standing ovations from onlookers.
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“[In O the artwork] I made these giant feet for people to walk differently, that’s what I love about costumes…it makes you move differently. You’re allowed to be whatever you want in that costume,” he says.
“We’re so digital now, I really like touching stuff and textures and things like that…[it connects you with] feeling and emotions.”
There’s also something else he’s trying to achieve with these works.
“Making costumes cool! I feel like they’re kind of this daggy thing…I really wanted to put costumes on a pedestal, in a sense that they are also a sculpture, [so] should be appreciated the same way.”
These big orange feet were part of the costumes for O (2023) at UTS Gallery. (ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss)
Mum takes centre stage
Years ago, HOSSEI began collecting both Nahid’s “unique and bizarre” stories and “juicy” sayings. He would also jot down little melodies, and began shaping her anecdotes and spirit into songs.
“I never really knew that I was going to kind of make it what it is today,” he says.
“But I did know about 10 years ago that I wanted to make this work with my mum and talk about her lived experiences, and just give her this platform.
Nahid on the cover of THUNDERBLOOM, a nine-song album which originally accompanied a three-channel video of the work at West Space in Melbourne. (ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss)
And was his mum used to being in the spotlight? “No!” HOSSEI says, with a laugh.
But he didn’t cast Nahid because she’s a star singer or seasoned performer — though she did grow up in Iran as part of a “huge” Persian family, where spontaneous family singing was part of life.
He’s made her the star because people like her rarely get that opportunity.
“She’s this 70-year-old ethnic woman that I just don’t see in the arts, so I really wanted to give her a voice.”
“Mum and I have such a strong connection, it’s kind of like asking your best friend to join you on the stage,” says HOSSEI. (Supplied: HOSSEI)
HOSSEI’s mum is a migrant woman, who has experienced significant trauma and lives with various illnesses. He is her carer, taking her to appointments, shopping and cleaning for her.
“There was a lot of urgency to make this now, while she can still do things, you know, while she can still perform and sing and tell her story.”
But he says she’s also “sassy”, “cheeky”, and a “natural performer”. And as someone who lived through the Iranian revolution with “bombs going off in [the] backyard” she also has a whole lot of life experience to share.
Details of the musical performance are mapped out on HOSSEI’s studio wall, including costumes and make-up. (ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss)
Turning real life into a song
In his studio — in a converted warehouse in Western Sydney — HOSSEI holds up an album cover with a close-up image of Nahid gazing upwards, grey hair blowing in the wind, against a stormy background.
Before HOSSEI developed it into a live show, THUNDERBLOOM was a three-channel video work at West Space gallery, accompanied by an album of the songs.
“These songs are earworms, like seriously. You’re going to be singing all these songs on the way home, for sure and that’s going to be fun,” says HOSSEI.
The songs now form the basis of the THUNDERBLOOM-LIVE performance. They feature all sorts of musical styles, from blues to heavy metal, “Enya ambient vibes” and Persian influences.
“There are so many 60s elements in this whole thing — this was my Mum’s prime, the biggest joy and biggest part of her life was in the 60s — that’s when it was really exciting for her.”
The insert to the THUNDERBLOOM album, featuring song lyrics. (Supplied: HOSSEI)
The song lyrics take all sorts of unexpected turns, as inspired by his mum’s experiences.
Tracks range from ‘New Age Woman’ — all about feeling like you’ve been wronged by the world, and contentedly staying home on your iPad — to apparent fan favourite ‘Sea of Names’, a list of HOSSEI’s mum’s medications.
“I go to the doctors with her a lot…I know that she takes a lot, but when I looked at this list, I was like, totally blown away…I couldn’t believe she took this many,” he says.
“And the words were so interesting, I couldn’t even pronounce half of them. Then I was like, I’m gonna make a song about this.”
The song ‘Grocery Shop’ talks about the “humbling, bonding” experience of helping his mum go to the supermarket. HOSSEI has expertly crafted larger-than-life grocery food from fabrics — from lettuce to Lebanese bread — to help tell this story on stage.
Big, fabric groceries in HOSSEI’s studio, ready for performing the song lyrics “Darling lets go the grocery shop”.
(ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss)
While a lot of THUNDERBLOOM explores HOSSEI’s mum’s life, he says it’s also “about our connection, and how tight we are”.
“It’s kind of like asking your best friend to join you on the stage — we’re so different as well, but she is like the other half of me,” he says.
Art for healing, and joy
HOSSEI has been creating vibrant performances for almost 20 years, but he never thought he would produce an album, “let alone the first one being with my mum”.
“I’m not a professional singer, Mum’s definitely not a professional singer, I don’t work with professional singers,” he says, although he has been singing and doing choir performances for 15-20 years.
“The reason why I work with human voice as a tool is because you can connect to it on an emotional level,” he says.
“There’s a lot of soul in the voice — I’m interested in emotions.”
“I would say my work is super colorful” — HOSSEI with fabric being used for the THUNDERBLOOM: LIVE costumes.
(ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss)
HOSSEI hopes his colour-drenched music performance, celebrating his own and all mothers, creates a “healing space”.
“The world is hard. It’s sometimes hard to exist. So, yeah, it’s nice to escape sometimes.”
The artist describes himself as “very serious about being silly”, and he wanted to make sure there was a lot of humour in this work.
“It’s about having fun, and there’s a lot of joy in the work. And I think that’s also a big part of this, about [Mum] spreading that joy as well.”
HOSSEI wants people to feel joy when they experience his art. (Supplied: HOSSEI)
The sun is fading in HOSSEI’s studio, so we ask one last question: Would he recommend people make an artwork with their family?
“It’s only for the brave,” he says, with a loud laugh.
“It’s not every day that you could say, ‘I’m sharing a stage with my mum in the biggest performance space at Carriageworks, in front of 200-plus people’ … This will forever stay with me, this will be one of those really important things.
“So f**k yeah…go sing a song with your dad, with your mum, sing a song with your sister and brother or whoever you know!”
THUNDERBLOOM: LIVE is being performed between October 23- 27 at Liveworks Festival at Sydney’s Carriageworks.
