İstanbul Arabesque Project helps Turkey's ‘hidden zeal for rock-arabesque' resurface

The five-piece band, with Barbaros Akbulut on drums, Özer Kırçak on electric guitar, Korkut Peker on fretless guitar, Erkut Demiroyan on bass and Pınar Çubukçu on vocals, performs rock covers of famous arabesque songs without using any oriental instruments. They have yet to make an album out of the songs but are currently very busy performing in İstanbul. The group's members spoke to Sunday's Zaman, sharing how they combine two seemingly very distinct genres together into one sound.

How did the idea of such a project arise?

Barbaros Akbulut: We've been talking about this among ourselves for a very long time, but we didn't have the courage to do it. In order to implement it, we had to find the right people and wait for the right time. That's why the project has in fact been a little bit delayed. We're not the first people to do such a thing [a combination of various genres], but we're the first group who has such a repertoire. Of late, there has been a certain increase in appreciation of Müslüm Gürses and other arabesque singers' songs in Turkey. This encouraged us more. So we started to work on this project, and we formed a repertoire. Then the concerts started, and now it still remains a project.

How did you form your repertoire?

Akbulut: What is important for us is who [what singers] we should recall on a night of arabesque, such as Kamuran Akkor, Bergen, Selami Şahin, etc. Playing one or two pieces from each of these musicians, our concerts turn into a tribute event.

Pınar Çubukçu: We did form a main repertoire, but in order to develop this we exchanged ideas with a lot of people. Our purpose is to expand our repertoire in accordance with our listeners' demands by selecting songs that are most requested.

What type of feedback are you getting?

Özer Kırçak: As far as we see on the Internet, on our pages on MySpace and Facebook, our work is appreciated. We see the positive reaction during the concerts. But we did not form this group with such an expectation. We did this project not because we thought, “What will people think about it if we make such music?” but because we were listening to this music and we wanted to play it [in this way] and it was the right time to realize [this project]. But, of course, when we receive such feedback, this makes us happy.

The audiences of arabesque and rock music are very different. Does the audience get confused when they listen to your music?

Akbulut: In fact the listener isn't surprised at all because the listener also has that fusion in his mind. We are living in a country where this mixture has been penetrating our minds since our birth. Sometimes people snub this fusion [of music] or as they become part of some [social] classes, they avoid this, but then we see at our concerts some rockers singing arabesque songs along with us. Everybody in Turkey carries this fusion [of musical taste], but they either turn their back to it or repress it, only to reveal it someday.

Will you introduce your work internationally?

Akbulut: Our aim in the long term is to introduce this music to the international arena. There's a huge audience who loves this music in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. We also would like to sing with them in a concert setting.

Will you do duets with arabesque singers?

Çubukçu: During the concerts, whatever cover we're playing, we always try to mention the song's original singer's name, too, because these songs were endeared to the public by these singers. And since we're from a new generation that is trying to pursue the path paved by them, we think that we should pay them the respect they deserve. We would be proud if these people also want to support us and take the stage with us within this project.

Akbulut: Actually what we really want is to give arabesque concerts with rock musicians. To do a project with people who do not originally sing arabesque is a primary aim for us. We want to expand our group because we want to play arabesque with only Western instruments.

Can rock music be transformed into arabesque?

Korkut Peker: Why not? This is all about demand. As a musician, there's an energy that accumulates, and you want to discharge it. This energy can reveal itself either through making rock covers of arabesque songs or transforming rock songs into arabesque or Turkish classical music into jazz. This is all related to the energy and passion that has been building up inside a musician. All musical genres can actually be transformed into each other -- or can be blended.

Akbulut: Turkish audiences are used to such blends, but they became aware of this fact very recently. For many years, everybody turned their backs on arabesque. Another time, they turned their back to even folk music. But when Turkey's homegrown music was discovered by international musicians and adapted to other musical genres, Turkish music was imported to our own country. Then everybody said, “Well, how nice is our music!” After that, a period of awareness began.

Is there an album coming up?

Akbulut: Definitely. This is why we're doing all these [performances]. We have plans for an album, but there's a copyright problem since we cover other people's songs for the time being. And this is not that easy.

For more information about the İstanbul Arabesque Project, check out the group on www.myspace.com/istanbularabesk.