RED BULL SOUNDCLASH ONCESİ HEYECAN

RED BULL SOUNDCLASH RAUNTLAR VE KURALLARI

12/12/2012

Red Bull Soundclash Oncesi Heyecan

İstanbul'da soguk bir Aralik gecesi...Bu gecede bir rock konseri...Ama bu konser oyle siradan bir konser degil. Oncelikle maNga var, ki bu bile gitmek icin yeterli neden. Ama bir de karsilarinda Athena var ve bu konser 2 rock grubunun carpismasi olacak. Bu yuzden kesinlikle gidilesi bir konser ve ben gidecegim, evet. :) Benim biletim var. Bu etkinlik, Red Bull Soundclash denilen dunya capinda duzenlenen bir konser projesi. Turkiye'de ilk kez yapilacak.

Oncelikle bu Soundclash nasil bir proje, ondan bahsedelim. Karsilikli iki sahne kuruluyor. Seyirci ortada. Farkli muzik tarzlarinda iki grup, 4 farkli rauntla hunerlerini sergiliyorlar. Bu bir yarisma degil, bir carpisma. Red Bull bu etkinligi, 2006'dan beri dunyanin cesitli ulkelerinde o ulkenin unlu gruplariyla Soundclash adi altinda gerceklestiriyor. Bu, bir cesit Anadolu ozanlarinin atismasi gibi. Bir o sahnede basliyor muzik, bir bu sahnede. Seyirci bir o gruba donuyor yuzunu, bir bu gruba.

Soundclash, 4 raunttan olusuyor. Rauntlar baslamadan bir isinma turu var. Gruplar sahneye ciktiklarinda, kendilerine ait 3 parcayla seyirciyi rauntlara hazirliyorlar. İlk raunt, "Cover Raundu". Gruplar birlikte belirledikleri baska bir muzisyene ait unlu bir sarkiyi kendi tarzlarinda yorumluyorlar. İkinci raunt, "Devralma Raundu". Bir grup calmaya basladigi sarkisini yarida kesiyor, digeri kaldigi yerden sarkiya devam ediyor, yani devraliyor. Bu raunt iki kere yapiliyor. Amac rakibini en iyi sekilde tamamlamak. Ucuncu raunt, "Carpisma". Gruplar kendi sarkilarini bastan yazarak 3 farkli turde seslendiriyorlar. Son raunt, "Joker Raundu". Bu rauntta, gruplar o ana kadar gizli tuttuklari bir veya birden fazla muzisyeni sahnelerine joker konuk larak cagirabiliyorlar.

İste Soundclash boyle bir olay. Buraya kadar okuyup da, gitmek istemeyen oldu mu? :) Sanmiyorum. Hayran olmayan kesimin de agizlarinin suyunu akitan bir konser bu. Ben bu konserden, maNga ile ilgisi olmayan kardesimin bu konudaki gazete haberini dikkatime getirmesi ile haberdar oldum ilk olarak. "Ee, maNga ile Athena kapismasina ne diyorsun?" diye sordugunda benim coktan olayi duydugumu farzediyordu, ama benim haberim bile yoktu. Ve ben bir yerlerde 2 grup arasında kavga cıkmış gibi algıladım. :) Derhal gazeteyi buldum ve haberi okudum. Soz konusu haber asagida:

Soundclash ile ilgili çıkan ilk gazete haberi /

MILLIYET / 19 Kasım 2012

Nasil heyecanlandigimi anlatamam. Cunku boyle bir konseptteki konserde yer almasi kesin olan bir grup varsa o da kesinlikle maNga'ydi. "e-akustik" albumleriyle, kendi sarkilarini ne kadar harika bir sekilde yeniden yazabileceklerini gorduk. Bu onlar icin bir cocuk oyuncagi olacakti. Athena'nin da ne kadar yaratici ve gaza getirici bir grup oldugunu zaten biliyoruz, yazdiklari cesitli spor marslariyla. Yani o gece orda olamayan cok sey kaciracak. Kardesim bile ne maNga, ne de Athena hayrani olmasina ragmen, "Bu konser kacmazmis, ha! Keske ben de gidebilseydim!" dedigine gore ben kesin gitmeliydim.

Gazete haberinin resmini cekip, Twitter'da ve Facebook'ta paylastim hemen. Daha sonraki isim ise o gece İstanbul'da olacagim kesinlesince gidip biletimi almak oldu.

Konserin duzenlenecegi yerin Kucuk Ciftlik Park olmasi nedeniyle, oncelikle bunun bir acik hava konseri olacagini sanmistim, soguk havaya ragmen. Cunku bu yaz burda bolca acik hava konseri vardi. Ben gidememistim, ama orasinin bir acik hava konser alani oldugunu biliyordum. Biletix'den bileti alirken de, konserin acik havada olmasinin son derece muhtemel olacagi soylenmisti. O halde soguk hava icin butun onlemlerimi almaliyim giderken diye dusunuyordum. Termal fanila, bogazli kazak, hirka, bere, eldiven, ayak isiticilari, vs...Bir yandan bu onlemlerle rahat bir sekilde soguga dayanabilecegimi hesapliyordum, ama bir yandan da kalabaligin ve rock muzigin ortami yeterli derecede isitacagini da umuyordum.

Sogukta konser izlemekten bahsedince, 2006'da ABD'de Missouri Eyaleti'nin baskenti Kansas City'de oynanmis olan "Big 12" denen amerikan futbolu bölgesel liginin final macini hatirladim. Ondan biraz bahsedeyim. :) Cunku bu maci da bir Aralik gecesi ve tam tamina -14 (eksi ondort) C'de izlemistik! Ve macin 4 saat surdugunu de dusunursek donmamis olmamiz bir mucizeydi. O geceki finalde amerikan futbolunda efsane kabul edilen bizim eyalet Oklahoma'nin universite takimi olan Sooners ile ezeli rakibi Nebraska Universitesi'nin takimi Huskies karsilasiyordu ve fanatik taraftar olan eski esim ve ABD'li arkadaslari Sooners'in finale cikacaklarinin kesinlestigi gece finalin oynanacagi Kansas City'ye gitme planlari yapmaya baslamislardi bile. :) Ex-esim, "kendini soguga hazirla" demisti ama onu dikkatli dinlemedigimi sonradan anlamistim. :)

Ben o geceki gibi bir sogugu Turkiye'de tatmisligim olmadigi icin, son derece sasirdigimi hatirliyorum. Gerekli onlemleri (!) alip gitmis olmama ragmen macin 4 saat olmasi nedeniyle son 2 saatte sadece eldivenlerime hohlamakla mesgul olmus ve her golumuzden sonra cevremde ayaklara firlayan Sooners fanatiklerinin sevincleri bana bir sey ifade etmemeye baslamisti. Ve bu insanlar o sogugu hissetmiyor gibi davraniyorlardi. Ben ise sadece macin bitmesine ne kadar kaldigini hesaplamaya calisiyordum.

O gece eksi meksi havayi asla takmayan staddaki 100.000 kisinin onunde oynanan final macini, neyse ki bizim Sooners farkli bir sekilde almisti da, taa Oklahoma'dan Missouri'ye gitmemizin ve de -14 C'de maci izlememizin bir anlami olmustu.

Bu olayi boylece hatirladiktan sonra, donelim Soundclash'e. Ben bu konserin acik havada olacagini saniyordum, ama bugun Red Bull Turkiye'ye telefon edip durumu kesin ogrendim, ki bir cadirda olacakmis konser. Ustumuz kapalı olacak yani. Yuppii! Demek ki konseri izlerken bir yandan da usumekle mesgul olmayacagim. Bunu ogrenince kafamdaki konseri izleyen İnci goruntusu bir anda degisti. O kadar kasmaya gerek olmayacak gibi gorunuyor. Termal fanila ve ayak isiticilarina gerek olmayacak sanirim. Alan kucuk olacak cadir oldugu icin ve kalabalik sayesinde isinacagiz zaten. :)

Bu arada Twitter ve Facebook'ta da oldukca heyecanla karsilanan bu haber hizla yayildi ve son haftaya girildiginde gazetelerde 2 grupla yapilan roportajlar gorulmeye de baslandi.

Vatan Gazetesi 8 Aralık 2012

Milliyet Pazar Eki 9 Aralık 2012

Gruplar birlikte provalara da baslamislardi, Ikitelli'deki FadeOut Studyoları'nda.

maNga provada

Athena provada

Red Bull Türkiye gruplarla yapılan resmi tanıtım roportajlarını yayınladı. 

maNga roportajı http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvtiso_red-bull-soundclash-manga-roportajy_music#.UMi2cINJOAg

Athena roportajı http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvtiq9_red-bull-soundclash-athena-roportajy_music#.UMi9iYNJOAg


NTV TV'ye roportaj da verdiler. Birlikte prova yaparken son derece eglendikleri anlasiliyordu. O roportaj da asagidaki linkte.

NTV Gece Gündüz Soundclash Roportajı / 11 Aralık 2012

Bu roportajda onlari son derece kendinden emin, neseli ve ne yaptigini bilir gormek beni rahatlatti ve o gece icin daha da heyecanlandirdi. Sunucu Yekta Kopan'in grup uyelerinin konserin surprizlerini acik etmemeleri icin verdigi caba gorulmeye degerdi. Carpisma hakkinda cok bir sey ogrenemedik sonuc olarak. Ama zaten ogrenmek de istemiyoruz cok fazla bir sey. O gece surprizlerin gecesi olacak cunku.

NTV roportaji sirasinda Ferman'in surpriz cover sarkiyi agzindan kacirmamasi icin yaninda duran Yagmur'dan bir dirsek darbesi yedigini ogrendik, Ferman'ın kendi agzından. :) Bunun disinda, gruplarin soyledikleri tek sey, provalarda ortaya cikan sonuca kendilerinin de cok sasirdigi, o gece hesaplanmayan cok sey olabilecegi ve cok eglendikleri. Cem, iki grubun birbirlerinin sarkilarini bozmadan sadece kendi tarzlarında tamamlayacaklarını belirtti.

Vatan Gazetesi roportajinda Ozgur ilk kez bu kadar hizli caldiklarini ve zaman zaman Ferman'in kendilerine yetisemedigini soyluyor.

Red Bull web sitesindeki resmi tanitim roportajinda, Yagmur extra bir surprizleri olacagını, Ferman ise ufak bir tuyo verip, bu surprizin giriste olacagini ekliyor; sonra Yagmur eliyle makasla kesme isareti yaparak "bu kadar!" diyor ve bitiriyor. Sanirim o gece konserde neler olacagini kimse tahmin edemiyor. Gidip gorecegiz. :)

Konsere 1,5 gun kaldi. Ben yine resim, video cekme niyetiyle gidecegim. Ve yine izlenimlerimi gidemeyen arkadaslar icin paylasacagım. Lutfen beni takipte kalin. Simdilik bu kadar.

GEL OYNAYALIM: IN THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATIONS / KULAKTAN KULAGA EPISODE 7

EPISODE 7 / Mardin Midyat / 8 Dec 2012

In this episode, we'll go to Midyat, the cradle of civilizations where different cultures coexist in friendly tolerance throughout the ages. Ferman and his KK team go to Mardin via Diyarbakir. Ferman is excited as if this is his first time in a foreign country. Because he is very curious about Mardin.

Midyat is a rare ancient city where people still actually live in. This is Ferman's first time in Midyat. Midyat recently became a center of public attention. It's one of the leading cultural centers in Anatolia, where Arabs, Syrian Orthodox Christians, Yezidis, Kurds and Turks coexist and create a mixture of cultures. There is a dispute among the scholars as to who Syrian Christians are. Some say they are descendants of ancient Assyrians, some say they are christianized Aramean people. It's the historians' job to prove which is true. Syrian Christians have lived in these lands for a very long time and they still continue to exist.

Syrian Christians are among the most ancient indigenous inhabitants of Upper Mesopotamia. In 38 AD, when the region was still part of the Roman Empire, they rejected paganism in favor of Christianity. The Syrian Orthodox Church was founded here in Midyat and since 1478 Midyat has been the metropolitan diocese. However the history of the area goes back long before Christianity to the Hurrians who lived here in the 3rd millenium BC. 9th century BC Assyrian tablets refer to Midyat as Matiate, meaning City of Caves, and indeed at Eleth 3 km away there are the caves where the earliest inhabitants made their homes. Throughout the history, peoples have arrived and departed like migrant birds and the region was ruled in turn by the Mitanians, Assyrians, Urartians, Medes, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Abbasids, Seljuks and Ottomans.

Kasr-ı Nehroz

Ferman's first stop is Kasr-ı Nehroz which is a 1600 years old building. It's being used as a hotel now and Ferman & his KK team stay in here during the Midyat shootings. And also they will record the folk songs here.

Ahmet / Umut / Veysel

The first guest is Ahmet Salarvan, who is a Mardin-born Turkish musician of Arabic origin. He sings a 90-year-old Syrian folk song. He starts in Arabic and continues in Turkish. And then, 2 music teachers in Midyat, Umut Berrak and Veysel Unlu join him. They sing a song about a pious man who witnesses a breach of etiquette in a sira night. Sira night (sira gecesi) is an important local tradition, where groups of young men gather regardless of religion, language and ethnicity at one another's homes following a preestablished sequence, especially in cold winter nights, to play local musical instruments, sing regional classics and eat together. This song was an improvisation and they sang the song in that same sira night. :)

Then Ferman goes to 4th century Mor Gabriel (Deyruldumur) Monastery, one of the biggest and oldest active Syrian Orthodox monasteries in the world. It's also the seat of the metropolitan bishop of Southeastern Turkey, widely known under the Syriac name Tur Abdin. It was named after the bishop of Tur Abdin, Saint Gabriel (634-668).

The Monastery of Mor Gabriel

The monastery's primary purpose is to keep Syriac Orthodox Christianity alive in the land of its birth by providing schooling, ordination of native-born monks. Ferman asks about the Syrian Orthodox music, which is thousands years old. From 4th century, the Syrian Christians have started to sing hymns during prayers here. It's likely that these hymns have affected Ottoman music.

There are similarities between the musical patterns of Classic Turkish Music and Syriac music patterns. Ferman understands that when a Turk, a Kurd, an Arab and a Syrian sit together to make music, they won't have big difficulties in terms of music thanks to musical similarities.

Ferman, as a qualified architect, did have a look around the monastery and says from an architectural viewpoint this building has stood for 1600 years and this makes this building very valuable all along. And he notices the signs saying "It might collapse any moment! Don't come any closer!". But we have a thrash bin and a bench by the dangerous wall. You can only see something like this in this country! :)

Ferman, Mesut and Orok

Then Ferman goes back to Kasr-ı Nehroz, to meet 2 young Syriac men. They are tourism entrepreneur Mesut Aslan and musician Orok Davud. Mesut will translate what Orok says. Orok doesn't know Turkish because he just fled to Turkey for safety from the civil war in Syria, leaving all his instruments behind. Orok plays lots of western instruments such as saxophone. Ferman is curious if he does any musical experiments mixing the eastern and western instruments. Orok is interested in jazz music and he used to make experimental music with regional music using also the western instruments. Ferman says that he wishes music could bring peace to Syria soon. Mesut is also interested in music as a hobby.

Mesut will sing a song now. The teachers Umut and Veysel also join them in an another song and they record this week's song all together. The song is about a shy boy who can't ask the girl he loves to dance in a local wedding. But Ferman doesn't know which song will be rearranged in İstanbul as of this moment.

The second day in Midyat. Today Ferman will get some information about Hotel Kasr-ı Nehroz, in which he and his team spent the previous night.

Ferman talks to the manager (?) of the hotel about the building and the history of the region. The history of the region dates back to 4000 years ago. But the historical records are from 5th century AD. Each stone on this building is from 1610 years ago. The Syrian people living around here in those times needed protection from the marauding tribes and found one. That's why the walls are very high and thick. They're so thick that in the rooms cell phones don't work and wi-fi service is unavailable. The protector Nehroz Family, who are the ancestors of the Yenigun Family who owns the hotel now, voluntarily has come along; they lived in this building's 2 towers and protected the family very long years. The Syrian Orthodox community is on the decline. Migration began in 1960s when many went to Germany and other western countries as guest workers. So before the Syrian family who owned this building, left for abroad, they gave it to the protector Nehroz Family as a gift. They have lived here for about 260 years.

Telkari (Filigree work) of Midyat

The next stop for Ferman is the Heart of Midyat, the marketplace. Midyat's delicate silver filigree (telkari) jewellery is quite well-known. This is an ornamental work of fine silver wire formed into delicate tracery, which is peculiar to Mardin and Midyat. Making filigree jewellery requires patience and dedication. But the final work of art is worth the patience.

Then Ferman takes some pictures of the children on the streets. The kids voluntarily poses for his camera but somehow it takes a while Ferman to push the shutter and the kid is curious about what it's taking so long. :)

Ferman and Veysel at the Guest House

The last stop in Midyat is State Guest House, which has a magnificent view of Midyat. Veysel the Teacher takes him there. Ferman here asks him again about the musical patterns of Syriac music, how similar they are to Turkish musical patterns. Veysel Bey says that they are very similar with small differences and surely there must be interactive relations between the patterns. These differences are so small that only the music professionals can understand what they are. Turkish music borrowed some Syrian melodies and put Turkish lyrics into them and similarly Syrian music borrowed some melodies from Turkish music and put Syrian lyrics into them.

Now it's time to go back to İstanbul. A world without any disrimination of religion, language and ethnicity is everybody's dream, isn't it? Ferman thinks that this dream has come true in Midyat. This will be most difficult episode for him. Because here they recorded many songs from many different cultures. He has to pick just one among these songs in İstanbul. He has a little surprise for us at the last moment. Kemençe is known as a local instrument from the Black Sea Region of Turkey. But he has found kemençe here in Midyat as well.

####

Back in İstanbul. This week's guest star is Aydilge Sarp. In the briefing, first of all Ferman asks Aydilge if she has been to Mardin before. No, she hasn't been to Mardin but she thinks that she'll virtually visit the city thanks to this program. Ferman asks her what she knows, what she feels about the city. Aydilge knows that Mardin is a multicultural city where unprejudiced people live in friendly tolerance. This is a dream of her that she wishes for the entire country. The alienation is a general social problem in the world. A simple soccer game can easily turn into a big fight among groups anywhere. Everybody talks about what we need the most is to realize the oneness of the humanity. She thinks that the people of Mardin naturally realized this. Ferman agrees with her that they don't force themselves to become one with one another, because they already have been living as one. If the people is forced to come together, it generally become artificial, unpleasant and reluctant.

Ferman says that all of the Turkish musicians including him and her, try to create their own unique style of music in one way or another. Sometimes they hear a melody and they wish to add that to their music as well, but they have to decide when. When they do this, what will the loyal fans say? He asks Aydilge about her project of multicultural orchestra.

Aydilge is against the categorization such as Turkish rock or Turkish pop. There are some formats about that. We know maNga and Ferman is trying to be pioneers and go beyond these borders; add different elements into their music. Aydilge likes experimental music as well, so she supports maNga and finds them very close to her. She wants to make multicultural music with oriental elements in it rather than making conventional music. Classical Turkish Music is a vast treasure. Why can't we use some elements of it? She listened to Indian, Iranian, Moroccan or Tunisian rock music. They have some interesting acoustic projects as well. She wants to mix traditional instruments of these countries and Turkey in her music as well as western instruments. She'll present this experiment to people if she's satisfied with it. Ferman finds her voice very unique and thinks that her voice will be a very good accompaniment during this musical adventure of her.

Ferman starts to explain this week's song to her which is a Syriac song. He tells her about jazz lover Orok who fled from Syria. Now they will try to rewrite the Turkish lyrics and put the music & the lyrics together. She says "delicately like filigree work, right?" Ferman: "Exactly. We'll play with words!"

They really enjoyed playing with words together and even added some funny lyrics into the song.

GEL OYNAYALIM (Let's Dance Together) / Orok Davud / Aydilge Sarp

Aydilge's performance was very sincere and lovely, just like her chatting with Ferman. She made us want to dance to the music.

This episode's song was a merry song of a shy young boy who can't ask the girl he loves to dance in a local wedding. The boy apparently will leave the city for work or military service. The girl wants to marry him. But she says, "I'll wait for you, but not too long! I won't forget you in 3 years, but don't make it 4 years!". This part of the lyrics that they added made them laugh loudly! :)

In this episode, Ferman was in the cradle of civilizations and showed us around the colorfully multicultural environment of Southeastern Turkey and we met some people who accomplished in realizing ethnic peace. We wish the same thing for the entire world.


GEL OYNAYALIM / LET'S DANCE TOGETHER

Elimi çekti gel dedi bana, gel oynayalım
Gel hadi, söyleyelim sevdiğin oyunu

Burada kalalım, gel kalalım, sana doyayım
Üç seneye seni unutmam, dörde bırakma
Üç seneye seni unutmam, çok da abartma

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

He pulled me by my hand and said, "Come, let's dance together!"
Come, let's sing the song you love

Let's stay here, so that I can get enough of you
Let's stay here, so that I can be satisfied by you

I won't forget you in 3 years, but don't make it 4 years!
I won't forget you in 3 years, but don't make it too long!


You can watch the full episode 7 on the You Tube link below:

For full videos of KULAKTAN KULAGA episodes please click on the link of TRT Muzik's KK video page:

http://trtmuzik.net.tr/Gallery/Video/47/kulaktan-kulaga

YARANMAZ AŞIK: IN THE LAND OF THE MINSTRELS / KULAKTAN KULAGA EPISODE 6

EPISODE 6 / Şarkışla - Sivas / 1 Dec 2012

Do you know about the song "Dönmek (Return)" by Yeni Türkü (for the song's You Tube link, please see the end of the post)? The vocalist Derya Koroglu reprises "Yollar Bize Memleket - The Roads are Our Home" in the song. Ferman feels that the roads have been his home since he started making music and going on concert tours.

In this episode, we'll visit Sivas Sarkisla, aka "The Land of the Minstrels". This town's history dates back to 570 AD. We're going to Ortakoy, where we hear the music the best and Sivrialan, where the most famous Turkish minstrel Asik Veysel was born.

The song says "The roads are our home", but this time Ferman is really at home. Sivas Sarkisla is his family's hometown.

Ferman on the way to Şarkışla

Ferman with the lady who asked for vote for him

 

The lady who stops the car on the road says that she rocked Ferman on her legs to put him to sleep when he was a baby and invites him & his team to have coffee with her. Another lady tells him that asked by his mother, she started a campaign of asking people for vote for Ferman who entered a music contest on TV in 2002.  And she thinks that thanks to her efforts he became the 1st in the contest. She is talking about the "Sing Your Song" contest where Ferman and maNga finished runner-up, not the first! She isn't aware of this fact apparently and Ferman doesn't bother to correct her. So he just whispers to the camera "I was the second, not the first! Hahaha..." 

570 AD is not the date which the tradition of minstrels has started, but it's the birth date of an important historical figure who introduced this tradition to us: Dede Korkut.

Now let's go to Sivrialan Village where is the birth place of Asik Veysel (1894-1973), who was a highly regarded minstrel in Turkish Folk Literature.

Asık Veysel (1894-1973)

Asik Veysel lost his left eye due to a smallpox outbreak at 7 years old, and after an accident his right eye was blinded as well. But nobody saw this world as this blind minstrel had seen. He was a giant who saw the world  with his heart's eye. Thousands of songs of love, farewell, hope, home...He sang about all human feelings with his saz. Everybody who was born on the same land after him definitely gained something from him.

Ferman goes to his daughter Zehra Başer's house to talk about him, music and life 

Ferman asks about how this land could produce Veysel. Zehra Hanim thinks that his blindness made him see the world differently. When people asked him the same question, he often said "if it wasn't for my blind eyes, I wouldn't know anything this way; I wouldn't know the value of the soil and the nature. I see all things in my mind. My world is quite different from yours, mine is entirely another world". And he started wandering with his saz. 

His reputation as a poet reached Ataturk, too. But he couldn't meet him because of some inconveniences, even though Ataturk ordered his men to bring Veysel to him. Another time, there was a group of doctors who offered him an eye operation, but he refused to undergo the operation. He said  "my small world is enough for me; I'm happy in it" and sang a tune about how he 'sees' the world as a blind man.

Ferman asks Zehra Hanim if she remembers any of his songs that she loves very much and asks her to murmur it a little. She says that she knew lots of them but she doesn't trust her memory as much as before. This makes Ferman laugh heartily.

Ferman: What was the most difficult part of being his daughter?
Zehra Hanim: These questions of yours... (this causes Ferman laugh more heartily) 

But then she tries to recite his father's famous poem/song "Black Soil/Earth". Ferman thanks her and leaves for Ortakoy.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF "BLACK SOIL/EARTH" by AŞIK VEYSEL

Ferman at the grave of his great grandfather Aziz Üstün 

Asik Veysel is the greatest folk poet whom this land produced. But many more poets also raised in this land. One of these poets is Aziz Ustun. He wrote most of his songs about the nature. He was one of the close friends of Asik Veysel and his music mate. They sang the same songs and travelled together. He was born in poverty in 1911; devoted his life to music, arts and poetry. He passed away in 1978 just one year before Ferman was born. Aziz Ustun is Ferman's great grandfather, his mother's grandfather. Ferman has visited his grave for the first time in this episode. He is proud of being his grandson and he is very glad that he inherited his great grandfather's musical genes. He leaves the grave site with complicated feelings. 

Next, he is going to meet the village headman. The village headman waits for Ferman at an interesting place for a little village: Ortakoy Cultural Center and Museum.

Ortaköy Cultural Center and Museum

This is a small ethnography museum. Inside, there are several rooms such as poets room, women's room, guest room, threshing room which dedicated to local cultural elements. There is even a picture of maNga in this museum! This is also a community center where several cultural activities take place in the village. Exhibitions, concerts, book talks are held here. 

Ferman with his Aunt Furuzan and his Uncle Hasan

Now we're going to meet 2 of Ferman's relatives: Aunt Furuzan and Uncle Hasan. They are the children of Aziz Ustun, sister and brother of Ferman's grandmother of his mother's side.

Ferman has a brief chat with them. The uncle's cell phone starts to ring in the middle of the chat, the aunt is a bit angry with him, and she says "Turn it off! We have guests!"

The uncle talks about funny little anecdotes of his father who fell in love with his mother and learned how to play saz. And they sing one of their father's songs. During their talk, Ferman's grandmother shows up and talks about some memories of Asik Veysel. Ferman asks the same question about why so many poets raised on this land. Uncle Hasan thinks that this lies on the Sivas soil and Ferman also got the same genes from this soil.

Aunt Furuzan and Uncle Hasan singing their father's song

They record one of Aziz Üstün's songs with the aunt and the uncle. And then they go to grandmother's house to eat grandma's specialite cig kofte (raw meatballs) . On the way to grandma's house, they see the shepherd of the village; have a little chat with him and observe how he calls for the world-famous Turkish shepherd dogs, aka Kangals in his peculiar way.

Ferman and his grandmother

Cig kofte is a favorite Turkish snack and a specialty of Southeastern Turkey. Ferman likes cig kofte very much and had it almost everywhere in Turkey. He claims very clearly that the 2 best cig kofte are made by his grandma and his aunt. When she kneads the mixture of meat, bulghur and spices, Ferman tries to make her talk about Aziz & Veysel and sing one of Aziz's songs. 
He says, "Come on, Grandma, sing us a song from my grandfather!" 
She looks a bit surprised. 
Ferman continues, "Don't you murmur songs when you knead cig kofte?"
She says "Yes.."
Ferman, "Then come on! Sing something!" and she sings. :)

Here in Sivas/Sarkisla, Ferman also got the opportunity to retrace his own origins. And now it's time to go back to İstanbul with complicated feelings. 

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MaNga briefing

Back to İstanbul. In the studio, as this episode's guest stars, we have Dear maNga! Ferman is now just a member of his band. They created this studio in a very long time and finally they are satisfied by its final form. Now in their own studio, Ferman will have to do a briefing with his own band mates for this episode's song, but this will be a little hard for him. So he apologizes for this before he starts.

First of all, he tries to tell them about his adventure in Sivas, his homeland. He tells that he got to know a lot of things about his great grandfather who was a close friend of Asik Veysel. He says that, after he learned so many good things about his grandpa, he started to show off like "I'm Aziz Ustun's grandfather"! Ozgur corrects his mistake "...grandson"! Ferman laughs loudly at this. :) Efe thinks that this is a good thing for putting on airs.

Then Ferman tries to explain them that how they work on this program with Cagatay, how they rearrange the new forms of the songs, that they try to rearrange it as differently as possible than the original song, that it generally doesn't become a complete song. He explains that the biggest purpose of this program is that they try to make the village people listen to their own voice, their own songs in a different arrangement and to give the new songs back to them as a gift.

And he asks for their opinions about Anatolian music, how maNga get inspirations from Anatolia, how they feel and what kind of feedback they get in Anatolia concert tours, how far or how close they are to the folk music. Since he was looking at Ozgur when he asks the question, Ozgur starts to speak first.

Ozgur says that he hadn't been to Eastern Turkey beyond Cankiri up to 25 years of his life. When they travelled in Eastern Turkey he realized that it was very important to travel the country for music, because in fact they are not there physically, they are just CDs in the shops. It's completely something else to play live in front of them. He thinks that he got influenced by Anatolia emotionally, rather than musically and got the chance to see the other realities of our country.

MaNga at the briefing

Ferman states that they never force themselves to make their music. It just comes out of them naturally, because they have it in their souls all along.

Cem says that even though his hometown, Denizli is an Aegean town, it has the spirit of Central Anatolia. He speaks of his remembrance of Denizli. When he started his first guitar classes at Denizli Municipal Conservatory, there were only guitar department as the only Western instrument, the other departmens are all of traditional instruments. What he tries to say is that you could go as westbound as you want but still you'll have that deep Anatolian spirit anywhere. 

Efe joins the duscussion by saying that anybody in this country get involved in folk dance classes at some point in their school lives when they grow up and without being aware of it, you absorbe in Anatolian music when you are just a kid.

Ozgur adds that we, Turks are stuck in between the West and the East. For the westerners, we are from the East; but for the Easterners, we are from the West.  Ozgur is against this: "Why do we always have to explain this? We are just Anatolians, that's it. We are heirs to our Anatolian ancestors. We don't have to be in an engagement and explain the roots of maNga's music".

Ferman agrees with him. "No, of course we don't have to explain anything to anybody."

Then it's Yagmur's turn to explain his opinion: These influences are quite unintentional. As maNga, their first trial songs didn't have this Anatolian reflections at all. But when they started to make songs with Turkish lyrics, especially Ferman began to come up with more traditional tunes. Our only goal is to make good music and we're very glad that our songs have this traditional Anatolian spirit. They all agree with Yagmur.

Ferman says, "Let's listen to the song first and then brainstorm, OK?" This will be their first time to listen to the song. 

MaNga brainstorming

Yagmur thinks that the vocalists sound very different to an educated ear. Cem says that it has a fine vocal tone; they must keep this tone with minimum touch-ups. Yagmur agrees with Cem: "We must do the right thing keeping this sound, rather than change it into our sound."

Efe shares his thoughts on this: "How about leaving the melody to the vocalist, like the foreigners do?"

Yagmur adds, "It can be both, music and vocalist can share the melody by turns."

And now it's Ferman's turn to record his great grandpa's song according to the discussed themes. Ferman uses the wide range of his voice as low as possible and this allows him to keep the emotional level up. His touching vocal performance with his aunt & uncle made our eyes teary and we watched him speechlessly.

Ferman recording Aşık Veysel's song

YARANMAZ AŞIK / Ferman / Selahattin Demirağ / Aunt-Uncle

This episode was more "personal" than the other episodes for Ferman and by performing his great grandfather Aziz Üstün's old song he reached out to him and the old folk poets and showed us that he also shared the same genes with Sivas soil. 

Thanks very much, Ferman, for reminding us of great poet/minstrel Aşık Veysel, introducing your great grandfather who was also a poet/minstrel and sharing with us your roots in Central Anatolia.

So who will be the next week's guest star?



You can watch the full episode 6 on below You Tube link:

For your information: Yeni Türkü's song "Dönmek": please click: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohqjkCdgiSg


For full videos of Kulaktan Kulağa episodes, please click on below link of TRT Muzik's KK video page:

http://trtmuzik.net.tr/Gallery/Video/47/kulaktan-kulaga