The Bengi Bağlama Trio celebrates its 20th year this year

What were the feelings behind the formation of Bengi Bağlama Üçlüsü 20 years ago, and what were your primary goals in creating this group?

Bengi Bağlama Üçlüsü began to take shape when I, as someone who loved to play the bağlama, began to come together with other friends who also loved to play the bağlama during my university years. And what triggered our coming together to play was the “changes” that began to occur in the Turkey of the 1980s in terms of folk music and the playing of the bağlama. These were changes led by Arif Sağ. During these times, we were guided by our desire to recognize, understand and discover new directions the playing of this traditional folk instrument could take, though of course our greatest goal was to play it beautifully. In the end, the bağlama is played with great variety throughout Anatolian culture. And the creation of the Bengi group was to really introduce this great variety in the way it deserves. Of course, the Bengi group has not simply been satisfied being the “true representative of tradition,” in that it also contains at its essence an intellectual interest.

Which artists have most influenced the group and its understanding of music?

There were some very important musicians and local sources that were crucial in the creation of the Bengi group. When we were growing up, some of the most important bağlama players were people such as Mehmet Erenler, Musa Eroğlu, Arif Sağ, Talip Özkan, Yavuz Top, Ali Ekber Çiçek and Yılmaz İpek. As for folk music sources, there were names like Muharrem Ertaş, Hacı Taşan, Çekiç Ali, Neşet Ertaş, Feyzullah Çınar, Hisarlı Ahmet, İsmail Daimi, Davut Sulari, Mahzuni Şerif and Ramazan Güngör. We tried to listen carefully to the work of all these representatives of this branch of music and to use them in building our own work.

What were some of your feelings as you created your “20th Year Album”?

Well, for me, the “20th Year Album” possesses so much special meaning. I am proud of myself. Because despite all the fluctuations and despite the fact that this group took shape entirely as the result of certain self-sacrifices, there really now exists this phenomenon of Bengi Bağlama Üçlüsü, and the perspective on life that it represents. Standing here today and looking back to the past, at the very least we can say, “We brought Bengi Bağlama Üçlüsü to where it is today.” There are now in Turkey people who enjoy our take on life, who choose it, who bring about their own projects using our way as an example. So really, with our “20th Year Album,” our main goal was to create a work which would reflect our mission correctly, but at the same time be innovative. This album, which you could almost characterize as a “documentary album,” emerged as a true reflection of Bengi’s experience and perspective on life.

 Would you please explain this term you call the “new tradition”?

New tradition is a characterization that we, as Bengi, love to use in relation to our own work. As you know, there is a saying in Turkish that talks about “bringing new ways to an old village.” Yes, Bengi has introduced a number of new things within the framework of bağlama playing. From this perspective, our term for our music is “new traditional,” or “new old way.” Tradition always contains, at the same time, change within it. And the new also always gets old. Within this inevitability, there is both continuance as well as the past, which is what Bengi’s new tradition really means. But no doubt that this too will get old and will one day become just one more stone in that big river that flows on and on!

Do you think that the folk music of today is in the place it deserves to be? Is the work done by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to support this type of music sufficient? What more needs to be done in order for folk music to receive the respect it deserves?

Well, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the TRT take absolutely no interest in folk music. You cannot produce music with the state, though! And this is most certainly true for the most traditional of music. What the state means is policies and bureaucracy. And where these exist, music cannot exist. If there is someone who claims that it can, I would love to hear their views and benefit from them! But as a traditional musician, there is something I would like to say: There ought to be traditional music festivals. Private companies and cultural-art foundations need to show interest in this art form and must support it. There should be national and international festivals, competitions, contests, symposiums and so on in the traditional music arena. And there should be investment in the research aspect of this all, not just the production aspect. Turkey needs a “revolution” in the arena of musical education. Traditional music must definitely compose the basis of musical education.