Mert Mavis: I Live for the Music

 By Cong Chen

Mert is interacting with the audience at the Union at "Showcase" held by Dave Rave

What are you living for? Most people get tongue-tied when asked this question. But Mert Mavis knows his answer for sure and tells everyone “I live for the music” on his Facebook page.

Mert Mavis was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1990 and had lived there for 20 years until he came to the United States to study in Ohio University a year ago.

Raised as a Muslim but never practice the religion



Mert is being interviewed near the football field.

Born and bred in a country with 99 percent of Muslims of its population, Mert does not regard him as a Muslim even though all of his family member, his parents and elder brother, are Muslims.

"I chose by myself not to follow the practice when I was very young," He said." But I have learnt every detail of Muslim practice by heart."

Despite the fact that Mert never prays five times a day or get rid of alcohol as his elder brother does, he still believes in gods. He was very grateful to his "democratic and free" family never forcing him to do anything.

Study in the U.S

Mert took TOEFL and SAT tests when he was in high school to apply for universities in the U.S and was eventually accepted to Ohio University in 2010. He had long wished to get his university education in the U.S since he was 9 when he spent all his summer with his uncle in America.

11 years later, Mert’s dream became the reality with his persistent efforts. When asked about culture shock when he first arrived in America, Mert smiled and said, "I met very few obstacles or difficulties in adapting to American life."

Live for the music

Mert is practicing his DJ skills in the dormitory.

Now, Mert participates as a DJ in events held by Dave Rave, a monthly party at the Union in Athens featuring lights, lasers and electronic music. However, he just started to teach himself to be a DJ back to May, 2010, by watching numerous videos online and reading related books. At the present, he practices his DJ skills in dormitory everyday.

"I do it because I love it," he talked with great passion. "I do it for fun, as a hobby, not for money."

Mert mentioned the reasons why he wants to be a DJ: "I love to go to night clubs and dance. I enjoy seeing people dancing to my music and I also get energy from the crowd."

Mert loves electronic music from an early age because electronic music is so popular in Turkey that people can hear it everywhere. Among all the electronic music, Mert is fond of house music the most which is a style of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago in early 1980s.

To some degree, music is part of his life. "I will never retire from music even I am 70 or 80," Mert said. "I don’t think there is a day that I don’t listen to music."

Plan for future career

Mert is a sophomore majoring in sports management. With the advantage of height, he played basketball for two clubs in Istanbul from 6 to 16 as a semi-professional athlete. Combining his sports background and major, he is considering devote himself to fitness industry or managing a basketball team in the future. He also thinks of pursuing a career in music but he is still uncertain about it.



Mert(second from the left) with his teammates won the gold medal in a high school basketball match.

"Except for being a DJ, I just start to produce music too," he added."I don’t have huge intention to go all about music. But you never know. Maybe it will happen."