80% of the Turkish songs are plain sad and at least 70% are based on love. Even if the lyrics are full of happy and energetic words the singer somehow finds a way to turn everything around. The voice is lowered and the time taken to pronounce each word is maximized. The singer is longing for something unreachable. There is no exit and hope. 5 minutes of misery and pain.
You can tell how a Turkish song will turn out from the first 2 seconds. If there is an active beat or voice making the introduction, you should be ready to dance and feel really pumped up. Otherwise you have to prepare to revisit all your previous heartbreaks, longings and mistakes.
The answer to this generic blue theme in most of the Turkish songs could be hidden in our culture. Our mystical approach to love, the regularity of long-distance relationships, the importance of family approval in dating and marriage, the presence of god in being saved from love pain, the flirtatious nature of Mediterranean men mixed with the Ottoman obsession of possession and the orientalist and extremely emotional Turkish women are all ingredients in the songs we have been listening to. Below is an example from Niran Unsal’s new album. The song’s name is “Aklim hep sende” (“I am always thinking of you”) sang together with Ozcan Deniz.
Sana birsey olur diye aklim hep sende (I am constantly thinking of you thinking something will happen to you)
Ruyalarin bile benim goz hapsimde (Even your dreams are under my surveillance)
Senle yanan yurek usumezmis omrunce (The heart that burns for you will never grow cold)
Benim obur yanim bedelsin sen herseye (My other half you are worth everything)
Bensiz gunlerini sen unut artik (Forget about your days before me)
The truth is that our language and singers as a couple are just too good in blue. They capture our vulnerabilities right at the core, decorating them with multiple instruments and giving us all the reasons to listen to them whenever we are in need to interpret our emotions. No matter what, all such songs should still have cautions on their album covers: “Not recommended to be listened to when alone”, “In order to avoid misery please skip songs 2, 4 and 6″ and even “Could cause desire to commit suicide if listened to repeatedly within a 2-hour frame”.
why is it that we’re such a sad and introvert culture? everything is so hard and sooo sad. i think our laziness almost comes from this lack of happiness and constant presence of disappointment. we’re so used to being hurt that our people don’t feel its necessary to go the extra mile to do something or work harder…we used to rule the world for crying out loud, now look at us, we’re writing songs about lost and cheated love and burn down any possibility that may put a smile on our face. i mean there are exceptions of course, but in general… i mean i love my people, they’re fiery and so easily approachable and lovable, but come on!! loosen up peeps!
[...] 2010. Some are classics remixed and others are hits from the 2nd half of 2009. As I mentioned in The Truth about Turkish Songs; most lyrics reflect on cruel love and breakups. Thanks to the beats on the background, one can [...]