About

HILIN

Meaning: Bird’s nest
By Christophe Vico during Hilin’s Livingroom Session @ P60 Amstelveen

Sound is something she could never do without. As a youngster in Amsterdam with Kurdish roots, Hilin always sang herself to sleep with A-track cassettes from sesame street and Mozart. It evolved into her never being silent to the point that her mother got very annoyed at times.

Growing up, her admiration for the stage intensified. She started keyboard lessons at 8 and began with vocal training at 11. At age 15, she graduated high school and got accepted at two music academies, where she continued working on her vocal skills. At age 20, she played in a band that toured all over the Netherlands and Germany and supported acts like Rev. John Lee Hooker Jr. and Gym Class Heroes, to name a few. When the band split up in 2013, she decided to work on her solo career and started writing on the piano.

In 2018 she was accepted to a songwriters competition in Amsterdam called ‘Mooie Noten’. It was her first time performing solo. It got her to the finale, where she was able to play venues like Paradiso and the Vondelpark open-air theatre in Amsterdam. Though you won’t see many shows a year, they are what you call “exclusive”. She instead plays less to ensure the quality and experience.

With her songs she tries to bring you on a personal journey. Her unique voice is soothing and variable which, in combination with the arrangements of her piano, never get boring to listen to. Reviews have compared Hilin in line with names like Lana del Rey, Tori Amos, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, and Aretha Franklin. Yet, time and time again, she creates this warm, nurturing world where you feel at home and just want to have more of. To put it in one word: Purity.

At the end of 2020, mid-pandemic, she released her album “The Bedroom Session” to comfort the world in their lonely journey inside their homes. She was perfectly fitting her name: Bird’s nest.


Her debut album is available on all streaming services. A real old school CD? You can order the physical album via this link.

Photo by M. de Koning
Photo by M. de Koning
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