Watch out for this team! The creative ENC gang releases Sonsuz soundtrack

Sometimes it can even be the case that the film is an utterly bad one, but the soundtrack might be so good that it makes it worth watching.

As for the "Sonsuz" soundtrack album, produced by ENC music, a brand new music label, we can definitely talk about a creative team at work, doing “hands-on” work while the movie is being shot. It feels like a Talent Campus sort of “hands-on training” for the music industry that also writes and produces scores for films and media. After having listened to their “Sonsuz” soundtrack, their first release since becoming a label, I was pretty impressed to see the first steps of something like a creative institutionalization of film score composing in Turkey. It is time to say “Watch out for that team!” and see what they are up to in their past and future releases.

ENC comprises three core members: Engin Arslan, Cem Tuncer and Nail Yurtsever. They get the help of many excellent musicians, who lend their talents to the label's albums. For example, world-famous violin virtuoso Cihat Aşkın and singer Leman Sam are among participating musicians in songs like “Sonsuz.” The song has an air of -- not that the music can bear any comparison, I am just talking about aura-wise similarity -- companionship between Egberto Gismonti and Liliana Herrera on interpreting a Piazzolla piece in Fernando E. Solanas' film “El Viaje” as seen in the re-interpreted Piazzolla song “El Viaje.” Maybe it is Sam's voice or the song's overall journey feeling that made me think about this similarity, but there is something definitely common in their emotive references.

What Tuncer, Arslan and Yurtsever have in common is that all three are incredible musicians, soon to define where Turkish thematic music will go.

Arslan is a conservatory graduate and a musician who plays with countless bands, from Aynur to Bosporus. Albums he is featured in are also very diverse and include “Karpuz Kabuğundan Gemiler Yapmak” and “Beynelmilel.” You name it, he has played in it. Since he is a virtuoso of the bağlama, the lavta, the tanbur and the kopuz, among other instruments, he has the rare ability of being able to master both Turkish folk and classical music, which makes him an essential gem for studio productions.

 Yurtsever is a genius composer who works wonders, especially at adjusting recording quality, mastering, mixing and making your music sound as if it were playing live in your room. He has made the music for many TV series, including “Ihlamurlar Altında,” thus making it very difficult for anyone to not have heard his personal style in at least one of Turkey's TV series.

 As for Tuncer, apart from being an award-winning and talented jazz guitarist, he is an amazing arranger and composer. He not only understands and gives the harmonic toolkit to whatever he hears, he also designs a totally new context for every song, helping the audience easily identify that it is CT, as he calls himself, who has arranged the song in question. He has his own form to give to songs and when it is his own compositions, such as “Olmaz” and “Karanlık” on the “Sonsuz” album, he has an all “designed-in-advance” form and sound in mind for the song to be exactly what the context demands musically. Tuncer has arranged countless albums for Mirkelam, Jülide Özçelik, Keremcem, my own and countless others.

The trio's first soundtrack album under the ENC music label is a beautiful blend of the most hardcore folk türkü played with a simple bağlama and rock songs with a definite Turkish rock sound as well as Mediterranean pop-sounding pieces such as “Olmaz” and even trance songs with disco beats. It is a mad mix, but a very good quality one from one of the most creative teams in Turkey, especially in terms of film score composing. Keep an eye on this team and all they are likely to produce soon. Who knows, maybe our Yann Tiersens are just off İstiklal Street shut away in a studio working on new pieces for an upcoming Turkish film. (ENC, "Sonsuz Original Soundtrack,” 2009)