A nervous Ninos Dankha is standing on Riche’s small stage in Stockholm. Despite that the preparation for tonights release party is taking all of his time, ESNA got one exclusive interview with the new star.

It is a nervous, but very happy Ninos Dankha I met at the stage. He is 29 years old and his artist name is Prince of Assyria.

"The name felt right. I saw it more like a fun thing, but at the same time the name could give us Assyrians a lot of attention, which it actually did, says Ninos with a smile. At interviews a lot of journalists are asking about the name, and therefore I get a chance to draw attention and tell more about our Nation."

For the last three years Ninos has been working with music and since August last year under the artist name of Prince of Assyria.

Prince of Assyria is born in Baghdad, but the family moved to Sweden when he was one year old. Like many young Assyrians, he grew up involved in Assyrian associations and he is expressing the importance of the Assyrian identity. Not the least in the music he is producing. He is getting his inspiration from Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and from the Assyrian singer Ashur Bet Sargis as well as other Assyrian musicians. Melancholic folk pop is the kind of music Ninos Dankha produces.

"My Assyrian identity is important and gets a lot of room in what kind of music I produce, as well as the Assyrian romance. You should be proud as an Assyrian, especially considering the large cultural heritage we have. Assyrians have a long history and a great culture that contains every thing from music, architecture, art etc. We have lost on the other hand a part of our culture, we have lost a part of the joy that we had before. The genuine culture is not shown anymore. Today we are good businessmen, although we have so much more to offer and so much more to give."

All of these feelings and thoughts are closely involved in Ninos Dankha’s music. His lyrics are of very personal character. It is through the music he can tell the story about himself, his life and about people. Ninos Dankha writes all of his lyrics by himself and composes the music with help from Per Blomqvist.

"People can see themselves in my lyrics, but maybe don’t dare to express what I am expressing. If you take the time to listen to my lyrics, you can therefore do your own interpretation."

Ninos Dankha never made an attempt to be discovered as an artist, if anything, the music has been a way for him to express himself. Yet it didn’t take to long before he actually was discovered. The record label Kning Disc discovered his music at myspace.com, and since then things have been going his way.

What do you see for yourself as an artist in the year 2008?

The future is bright, he says laughing. My first album will be out in stores by the end of mars. Besides Sweden the album will be released in the US as well as in Japan. My single debut “Whatever you want” will be available as single/vinyl soon.

Will there be another album for us to expect?

"Yes, I have already started the writing of my second album. I want to keep on writing music, continue to deliver and affect people with my lyrics. That in itself is a challenge. To write and compose music is a challenge and in order to succeed one has to have a down-to-earth attitude."

A prince in exile

Since the escape from Baghdad to Sweden, Ninos Dankha has visited his home country Bethnahrin only once. Within a close future he will once again visit northern Irak and together with the Swedish Television channel SVT make a documentary; a charming story about a prince in exile.

"The documentary will break boundaries. It will show that we are not a conservative people. As an Assyrian you will always carry what our people has been through, in the back of your mind, while the recognition of us as a people is very important, I want to embrace the future with an open mind. In parallel with the effort of a recognition of us as a Nation, we have to look forward. Especially it’s important that we who are born in Sweden dare to break patterns!"

It is 22.00, and Riche’s little bar is full. It is getting more quite and Ninos starts to sing. This means that we are going to see more of the musician Ninos Dankha in the future.

To you who doen’t know who Prince of Assyria is, you can listen to his first singel ”What ever you want” here.

By Besima Simsek
EasternStar News Agency