Sezen Aksu, often called the “Voice of Istanbul”, will arrive directly from Van in Eastern Turkey where she has visited the earthquake victims to Oslo. The concert will take place Saturday evening at 7.30pm (doors open at 7pm) in Oslo Concert Hall as a part of Oslo World Music Festival. Aksu will perform together with her acoustic band and the music director Fahir Atakoglu. One of those who are looking forward to the upcoming concert is festival director Stølen: -Sezen Aksu has never played with this acoustic format in Turkey, so we expect this to be exceptional.
Powerful Voice
Sezen Aksu (born Fatma Sezen Yıldırım in 1954) was singing in a youth choir when she discovered her voice, but it was not before while she was attending the Aegean University she released her first musical composition with lyrics. This first song, ‘Kaybolan Yillar’ (Lost Years), became a hit and marked the beginning of her professional career. Although her intellectual parents did not approve of her singing career – they had envisioned a more academic path for her – Aksu dropped out of her agricultural studies to follow her dream. She rose to the top of the Turkish hit list for the first time in 1976, one year after the release of her debut single. Since then she has participated several times in the Turkish finals of the Eurovision Song Contest and sold millions of albums all over the world. Sezen Aksu is the first female Turkish artist to compose and perform her own music.
Icon of Dualism
Like the nation itself, the musical tradition in Turkey lies at the crossroads of East and West, between traditional folk songs and commercial pop and rock. Aksu has embraced dualism from the very start, and she has been described as an important re-inventor of Turkish popular music. Festival director Stølen explains that one of the reasons for inviting Sezen Aksu to Norway was the fact that there is a big Turkish community in Norway, and the concert is made possible through cooperation between Oslo World Music Festival and the Turkish Youth Organization in Norway:
-They are very helpful and professional and have a big network that we could not have reached without their help, Stølen express about the cooperation and ends by saying that she is eager to welcome the world known artist to Oslo.
For more information about the concert and tickets, take a look at Oslo World Music Festival homepages:
Photo: Oslo World Music Festival