Ebru Sokolova aka SCHWESTA EBRA is no longer a blank slate. The young musician became known with satirical videos in which she portrayed sexist musicians as feminists. In socio-political terms, she is involved in topics such as the women’s referendum, voting rights for people who live in Austria without an Austrian passport, and the separation between art and artist. SCHWESTA EBRA spoke to Itta Francesca Ivellio-Vellin about these topics and more.
Let’s start from the beginning, namely with your name: To what extent are you from Schwesta Eve inspired?
Sister Ebra: Musically not at all – I know maybe three of her songs. I know her more from the other things she’s been in the media about [lacht]. I would rather say that I am the opposite of Schwesta Eve bin.
How did you get your name then?
Sister Ebra: It actually has nothing to do with music. I wanted mine Instagram-Change my name because I actually had my real name, i.e. first and last name, and it doesn’t sound very Austrian. Whenever I post from the Time in the picture For example, when I commented, people immediately came with Erdogan and some racist statements. That got annoying, too Facebook. I always have parodies of Capital Good and he makes his signature sound “Braah” at the beginning of his songs and I did “Ebraah” in my parodies because my name is Ebru. Then at some point “Schwesta” came along because I used to listen to a lot of gangster rap and I thought it was cool. The intention wasn’t to invent an artist’s name with it, but that’s how the Insta name turned out to be.
Very pragmatic! If you as Sister Ebra ZiB-Commenting on posts, don’t you get teased?
Sister Ebra: No not at all! Because it’s not so obviously non-Austrian. It’s nice not to have to be constantly accused of having to be grateful because I’m allowed to live in Austria and therefore I have virtually no right to criticize this country.
You’re Austrian, aren’t you?
Sister Ebra: Yes, I was born here but I have a Bulgarian passport. Actually, my family belongs to a Turkish minority in Bulgaria. I’ve lived in Austria since I was born – but I’m still not allowed to vote here. I’m not even allowed to register demos or sign referendums.
“It’s nice not to have to be constantly accused of being grateful because I’m allowed to live in Austria and that’s why I have almost no right to criticize this country.”
That means that although you campaigned for the women’s popular initiative, you couldn’t do it at all sign?
Sister Ebra: Yes, unfortunately! This is actually no small problem – in Austria it is over 1 million, in Germany 11 million people who are affected, but we are gladly ignored.
What do you think would be the optimal solution? citizenship, or simply the right to vote, when you live in a country?
Sister Ebra: Good question. The NEOS have proposed a kind of European passport. That might be a possibility. I definitely think to myself, if I was born here, did elementary school, secondary school and high school here, studied here – why can’t I vote? The ÖVP always says “achievement, achievement, achievement” and “equal rights for equal duties” on this subject, but I have the same duties as others who live here, only fewer rights. Next thing is that access to citizenship is so hard. There was also a documentary about this ORF1, which I was also part of. There was one who ran across the street on yellow, which was taken as the reason why his application for citizenship was denied.
“…the more you know, the angrier you become, and the greater your will to do something.”
How did you come to the documentary?
Sister Ebra: I had been in contact with a lot before SOS fellow human, the NGO dedicated to this. I’ve also raised awareness of this issue myself through social media – a lot of people say to me “Yeah, just get citizenship!”as if it were that “simple”. It’s not “easy”. But people don’t know that. And as long as people don’t know that, no one gets grumpy about it and does anything. SOS fellow human then asked me to make a video telling my story. That’s how I got into the documentation at some point.
When did you start radicalizing yourself as a feminist?
Sister Ebra: Ever since I’ve been in Vienna, actually. My girlfriend also played a big role in that – we’ve been together for over nine years. We have always developed together in one direction. We then went to demos together in Vienna and got more and more interested and committed to it. Four years ago we would certainly have said that“Yes, these feminists are completely exaggerating”. [lacht] But we wanted to understand it and the more you know, the angrier you get and the more willing to do something.
How did you get into rap? That wasn’t your vocal starting point.
Sister Ebra: To be honest: I have no idea. I used to sing a lot of pop, rock and also jazz – from Amy Winehouse to Evanescence.
Amy Winehouse and Evanescence? That’s a pretty big range!
Sister Ebra: [lacht] Yes, the music I listen to is also very different!
What is your most listened to song at the moment?
Sister Ebra: I still stayed true to rap. But I’m trying to stop listening to all those sexist artists and focus more on female artists. I also like listening to a few Bulgarian songs at the moment, because I just did a Bulgarian course to learn to read and write. A bit of Katy Perry, Shirin David, Miley Cyrus, that’s all there for me [lacht].
“I still stayed true to rap.”
What about support from your environment regarding your political activism and your music?
Sister Ebra: My girlfriend works with me on almost everything I do. Musically she is always by my side. But my circle of friends is definitely on my side politically, although I initially tried to keep up the old school friendships. But at some point, for political reasons, among other things, that no longer worked. My friends do support me when it comes to my music. I’m always particularly happy when strangers write to me about how great they think my music is – I often get real essays, which means a lot to me.
If you now talk about your old school friends who are politically different: How do you deal with people who are opposed to your values - especially when it comes to feminism? Do you then say that you don’t want such people in your circle of acquaintances, or do you have a claim on yourself to enlighten other people and bring your side closer to them?
Sister Ebra: That’s why I wrap my messages in satire. Meanwhile, my mouthpiece is primarily social media. I’ve already been allowed to play a few concerts, so I tried to get my message out into the world. It’s the case that when I stand up in front of people who aren’t open to the topic anyway and say “Hey, feminism is great,” then I immediately lost them all. That’s why I use satire and made fun of it because I noticed that it also arouses the interest of people who may not be politically on my side. I also tried to maintain my friendships from before and to discuss the topics – I always try to be as neutral as possible. I also get up often Instagram or Youtube offended, I’ll write back too, “You’re welcome to criticize me, but what’s the point of the insult?” For example, once a person wrote me privately, something sexist, and then I looked at this profile and saw that this person was only 16 years old! I actually took the time to explain the whole thing to him. At some point he also said “Yeah, okay, you’re right.”
“You’re welcome to criticize me, but what’s the point of the insult?”
Of course you can insult each other for eternity or then block each other. But sometimes you can maybe change something about the other person’s point of view. But it depends on the condition of the day [lacht].
I always find it very admirable when people muster the strength and time to discuss with such people and to do educational work on this individual level.
Sister Ebra: I’m an aspiring teacher, maybe that’s why! [lacht]
You were there in July 2022 Pros and cons invited to discuss the separation between art and artist. How do you feel about this – to what extent can it be separated? Can songs or even musicians be banned from stages?
Sister Ebra: So: art and artists should not and should not be separated in any case, because art is always the product of the artist, no matter what happens. I find bans less useful or, to put it better, I can’t say whether that would be the solution to the whole thing, since then you can no longer point out the problem. It’s very complicated in general. After all, sexist art, for example, still reflects society, because we live in a sexist society and sexism is generally very “socially acceptable”. Do you understand what I mean? In terms of bans, I think that’s a good thing with the song “Layla”. People were then in “now more than ever” mode; and in the end you still couldn’t explain to them what the real problem was with it.
Sexism is a problem in all walks of life – right now, however, German rap is very much in focus. Why? Why do so many German raps automatically associate with sexism?
Sister Ebra: German rap is definitely more in focus now because it has become more suitable for everyday use (see rule change from Ö3 regarding charts because Raf Camora). German rap is associated with a strong masculine and hard image of masculinity; I think that’s also the reason why female rappers are smiled at in the sense of “Women can’t rap”. Apart from political rap, brands, cars and money dominate the lyrics and there, that has Ebow Well said in an interview, one mustn’t forget that these people mostly grew up in very poor circumstances and often have a history of migration and they more or less ‘compensate’ with their current material possessions. I don’t know if balance is the right word for it, to be honest. You basically had nothing and were nobody and now you have a lot and you are someone. I see that with my own mother, for example – she is not a rapper – but because she had very little money here in Austria for many years and so on, she simply ‘treats’ herself more and also values things more, for example on status symbols than I, who was born here in the first generation.
“German rap is associated with a strong, masculine and hard image of masculinity; I think that’s also the reason why female rappers are smiled at in the sense of ‘women can’t rap’.”
But what I observe with newcomers and also a lot of young rappers is this unnecessary sexist nature of the lyrics. That’s when you notice right “okay, he probably heard too much 187 street gang”. They then take these ‘strong guys’ as a role model and throw in a couple of similar lines; where it often seems so unnecessary and taken out of context. I often think so “Well wow, you really had to quickly add a ‘you cheap bitch’ on compulsion.”
Thank you for the interview!
Itta Francesca Ivellio-Vellin
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Links:
Sister Ebra (Instagram)