Emir

emir

So. Playlists. Have you got one for your manuscript? I always make one up for mine.

I've been looking for a good song for my main character in MIST OF KAVALA. I found good ones for the two secondary characters, but for some reason I couldn't pin one down for Taner, for the longest time. Was it because I didn't understand him yet? I'm not sure, but worry no more: I found it! The perfect song, and it's a Turkish one too. Double points!!!
So to explain what Emir has to do with all this perfection:

1) An "emir" is the old name for a prince, or similar head of state, in Turkish and in Arabic speaking countries. (Still in use. Example: the United Arab Emirates, where I used to live.) Emir geldi - is Turkish for "an order came down" from our superiors. And the order is that we need to pay attention to this new Turkish artist, Emir.

2) I've posted about Tarkan in the past. Modeled a character on him in BURNT AMBER even. (Lot's of people want to be like Tarkan, so that wasn't a stretch.) He is a very influential artist. I would even venture to say he is a king maker on the Turkish music scene. My evidence? He's turned his efforts from singing and writing, to writing and producing. Emir is one of Tarkan's sucesses. (Ha! Emir even plays on the word king. :D)

Tarkan is a co-producer on Emir's album, and lending lyrics to the new star, he cameos in the video clip for Ben Sen Olamam. His influence is so strong, many Tarkan officianados even question if Emir is Tarkan's protege or clone?

Funny they should mention clones... I'm working with a thread about them right now. Just read Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD too. Hmm.

And so I claim Tarkan/Emir's song, Ben Sen Olamam - I Can't Be You, as my inspiration for Taner. Fit's him like a glove, it does.

Here are the lyrics and my own (mediocre) translation:

Öyle diyorlar,                                           Like this, they say
Böyle diyorlar                                          Like that, they say
Şekile mekile takılıp üzüyorlar                Appearances, they stick on them, they sadden me
İnsana dünyayı dar ediyorlar                  They constrict a person's world

Yaftayı takıp sınıflandırıyorlar                They label and they classify
Eğriyi doğruyu bilen ya onlar                 Right or wrong, they are the ones who know
İnsanı kaderine küstürüyorlar                 They disturb a person's destiny

Kaçtım, kaçtım durdum                             I ran away, I kept running away
Kendime değil, hep kendimden                 Not to myself, always from myself
Ne zaman ki bana geri döndüm                When I came back to myself
Ümitle donandım yeniden                         With hope I returned again
Ben benden oldum yaşayınca                   I made myself, even as I lived
Onun bunun kitabına göre                       According to this or that rule
Ben yine beni bende buldum                    I found myself in me regardless
Sığınınca kalbime yeniden                       I embraced my heart again

Ben bundan böyle:                                   Me, after this:

Ne yasak tanırım ne kural tanırım            I acknowledge neither forbidden nor allowed
Ruhum bedenime dar, bunalırım              My soul is too tight in my body, I suffocate
Üstüme gelme. Bak. Kafa tutarım             Don't push me. Look. I will defy
Acımam, tozu dumana katarım                 I have no mercy, I throw dust on the flames
Ben sen olamam, olursam eğer                I can't be who you are, if I am
Kendimi kızgın ateşlere atarım                I will throw myself in angry flames
Uymam, sürüye uymaktansa                    I won't conform, if I follow the herd
Kendimi kurd'a yem yaparım                    I make myself food for a wolf

Ya sev seveceksen olduğum gibi             Love me, if you will love me the way I am
Ya da çıkar at kalbinden beni                 Or remove me, throw me out of your heart
Ne değiştirmeye çalış ne yargıla             Neither try to change me, nor judge me

Hangimiz kusursuz mükemmeliz ki         Which one of us is without flaws, perfect?
Bana tepeden bakıp da                            You look down from your hill upon me and
Kendini daha özel ayrıcalıklı sanma       Don't think yourself special, superior
__________________

Write My Name on Your Heart



via binscorner.com


Unut beni...AH!  Tarkan begs me to forget him everytime I listen. (He knows it's a lost cause.) But he seems to have had a change of strategy with his latest album Adimi Kalbine Yaz (Write My Name on Your Heart).

Beta readers are probably looking at this picture going "I know that face!" Yeah, he's the inspiration for my Turkish Casanova.

Tarkan may not be a household name here in the States, but he is THE biggest Turkish star.  He's known all over Europe too, thanks to Turkey's amazing nightclubs and their European patrons.

I'd love to share his videos, but they are really hard to come by, copyrights and all, so I encourage you to click the link to his official website (above) for some authentic Turkish entertainment.

And now, back to my revision!

Music is a Universal Language

The last couple of posts have had music in them, so maybe it's time for a full post about it. A popular writers trend right now is to write while listening to music, hence the playlist on the sidebar. I need quiet to write, but I can't deny that some tunes inspire. Chains, Fortresses, Cennet...you know, stuff already running through my head anyway gets channeled when I'm listening in the car or kitchen and - A-ha! I have a moment of clarity. I listen to stuff from everywhere...language is not a barrier for me. At the moment Primavera in Anticipo (Laura Pausini and James Blunt) is on the top of my list. Half of it is in Italian, but I get it anyway.

In Turkey, like everywhere, there are different types of music. Halk muzik (folk) , Sanat muzik (classical, lots of arabesques), and then of course modern Pop/Rock/etc... I don't usually listen to the first two, although I appreciate them of course. I really like when artists take something from halk or sanat music and blend it into pop/rock. That I can't resist. Since I'm a former violinist, Can Atilla easily takes a "most played" track status in my iTunes library. He's a composer and his instumentals are just as important as the words. He likes to invoke images of the Ottomans...one of his albums is even titled 1453 (When Istanbul became the capital of the Ottoman Empire).

I just watched his video of Cariyerler ve Geceler for the first time. Its animation, but a very nice use of arabesques in every sense plus a bit of a steampunk vibe. Some indian woman singing background too... don't ask me what she's saying. Love the high violin crying out. Pure angst! If angst isn't YA, then what is?

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Goldenchain

Image via Wikipedia

The Goldenchain tree - Laburnum anagyroides

We had one at the gate near our villa in Mersin.  It's weeping form was pretty most of the year but completely smothered in yellow, it was gorgeous. The bekci (gardener) warned me though, every part of it is poisonous. 

I include things like this tree to round out my setting and deliver a subtle message at the same time. Just the name goldenchain takes us half the way... Of course, I'm not the first to use laburnum in the literary sense. Daphne du Maurier used it in My Cousin Rachel....Oscar Wilde in the Picture of Dorian Gray. I already had chains of a sort running through Burnt Amber, so the goldenchain was irresistible.  Golden and chain? Doesn't get any better. 

On the subject of chains: Tarkan, quite possibly Turkey's most famous singer at the moment, has a song about chains - on my playlist btw.  Bu Gece (Tonight) also known as Kir Zincirlerini (Break Your Chains).  It's a bit more racy than most people think a Turkish video would be, but then...I'm writing this blog because there are so many things people don't realize about Turkey that are FANTASTIC! 

Tarkan - Kir Zincirlerini by Aluxton
Uploaded by Aluxton69. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.