Can Atilla: The real reward is being appreciated by society.
Symphonic New Age composer Can Atilla is one of the groundbreaking musicians in modern day Turkey. Best known by music lovers at home and abroad for his hits "Sultanlar Aşkına" (For the Love of Sultans) and "Cariyeler ve Geceler" (Concubines and Nights), both of which became instant hits on Turkish television and radio stations in the past five years following their release.
Fans of Atilla's music had been eagerly anticipating his newest album, released this summer through Sony BMG Turkey. "Mevlana'dan Çağrı" (A Call from Mevlana) is a roughly one-hour CD featuring 15 striking tracks that altogether make up the score for the single-act Turkish ballet "Çağrı" (The Call), which recounts the life story of Sufi saint and poet Mevlana Muhammad Jelaluddin Rumi. The ballet premiered earlier this year in March in a Mersin State Opera and Ballet production.
Atilla, the recipient of numerous stage and music awards, explains that he always considered composing music a social task. "If it had not been like that, I would have done popular music. For years and years generations grew up with almost the same kinds of songs and they thought what they heard was music," he says in an interview with Sunday's Zaman. "I receive a lot of mail concerning the albums I have made. They are about how my music leads people to do research about the issues I am talking about. I believe that the real reward for an artist is the appreciation by society when he introduces something new," he says, adding that the very same thing makes him feel "there are still a lot of things to do in his country."
In 2007, Atilla also wrote the music for the "Mevlana Oratorio," which had its world premiere last year in İstanbul, marking the 800th anniversary of the birth of Mevlana, who advocated tolerance and peace through his poetry. "While the 'Mevlana Oratorio's' performances were going on, I was asked to write music for the first-ever original Turkish ballet to entirely center on Mevlana by journalist and art critic Şefik Kahramankaptan and choreographer Mehmet Balkan," he explains. "Composing dance music is entirely different from composing instrumental pieces. You have to give the lead role to the dancer. I have composed around 20 different themes for different atmospheres. I definitely wanted to release these as an album and rearrange them in the concept of an album," the artist says, adding that he tried to depict Mevlana's celestial emotions through a neo-classical musical language.
"Mevlana always reminded me of glorious emotions, and semas [whirling dervish ceremonies] make me feel the rotation of the planets," he continues. "While composing the oratorio and this album, I usually read the 'Mesnevi' [The Couplets] and the 'Divan-ı Kebir' to step into his realm. Moreover, I read his life from many domestic and foreign writers. The common feelings left in my mind were grief and a mystical loneliness. He had lived a very unusual relationship with Şems-i Tebrizi [Mevlana's companion] that cannot be easily grasped by other people," he says.
Since Mevlana's verses were full of meaning, the artist felt that his poetry and popular sayings cannot be used simply as an ingredient in songs. "They are so special, they can't just be parts of songs," he emphasizes. Rather than quoting passages from the poet's writings, which is what musicians have traditionally done, Atilla decided to tell his life story. "I thought that if I can convey the emotional state and the atmosphere he was in while he was writing these poems in my music, he can be felt by the audience correctly," he explains, suggesting that the listeners will first feel his loneliness and then his finding of himself in that hollowness in this album.
Regarding the musical aspect of the album, Atilla stresses that a universal and epic project like this on Mevlana had to be unique. "This issue could not be told by drum sounds, piano and fiddler solos or romantic songs. When music and dance come together, it has a very powerful effect on the audience. To give a similar effect to the listeners, I rearranged the entire album in an artistic way," he says, noting that the album is unlike other such albums, since it is an "original" composition. The main instrument on the album is the ney (reed flute) and when it unites with the düdük (pipe), the santur (a kind of dulcimer), ritual percussion instruments, a symphonic orchestra and a chorus, a sublime form of music arises. It also includes fantastic dream sequences, using electronic music at times, including a dance scene of Şems-i Tebrizi with Satan and an angel.
Apart from his projects about Mevlana, Atilla has released many albums about historical figures and events in Turkish history. He released three albums in his "Ottoman Trilogy," which was a first in Turkey and in the world. "I never conceived of music as merely 'song'," he says while explaining his intentions behind the trilogy. "Higher meanings should be put into music. It should tell us about important things, it should inspire us in areas that are not related to it and show people a way. It should affect people after they listen to it," he explains, adding that he does not want his albums turn into history lessons, so all of them have a cinematographic fictional aspect. On "Cariyeler ve Geceler" (Concubines and Nights), the first album in the trilogy, he focused on sultans' mothers and the issue of the harem. "For years and years, the harem was depicted to us as just a place for fun and eroticism, but this was not the reality. It was also an imprisonment. For example, the last piece in the album 'Anılar, Yapraklar, Mektuplar' [Memories, Leaves, Letters] depicts the suicide letter of a woman who has worked all her life to become the wife of the sultan but could not achieve this," Atilla says.
The second album, "1453 -- Sultanlar Aşkına" (For the Love of Sultans) tells the story of the conquest of İstanbul. "According to me, this album is the peak point of the pyramid. Before it, the conquest or Fatih Sultan Mehmet was never told through music," the artist points out. It includes his secret love, his teacher, Ak Şemsettin, who was very precious to him, and the silence in the Byzantine palaces after the conquest. The last album in the trilogy, "Aşk-ı Hürrem" (Hürrem's Love), takes place in the period of Süleyman the Magnificent. In order to create a romantic and emotional atmosphere, he chose to introduce the sultan through his great love, Hürrem Sultan. The video for this song was received an award from Kral TV.
Atilla defines his music as purely "composer music." New Age, he says, implies "new-generation contemporary music," as the electronic keyboard and technological musical instruments are used. The most important aspect of this music is that composer performs his own music. "From this point of view, New Age defines my music in general, but my trilogy does not have electronic music in it," he stresses, adding that he always tried to see music as a whole. "All my albums are concept albums. All kinds of elements may be included in it as long as it has the right connotations. I think my experience in the usage of technology makes my music special. Instrumental music has just begun to be explored in our country. After some time, artists won't be defined by musical genres, the people who play that music will make genres more meaningful."
05 October 2008, Sunday
RUMEYSA KIGER İSTANBUL
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