ISTANBUL
What could grab and hold the interest of a six-year-old Turkish girl and a 60-year-old woman?
The answer is not really difficult: German-born Tarkan Tevetoglu – a lithe and energetic performer – who put on a glamorous show for more than 7,000 fans – a surprisingly mixed male and female crowd – at Istanbul’s Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theater on Wednesday.
Despite not releasing a new album for five years, the singer has almost sold out nine upcoming dates at the same Istanbul venue.
The audience was primed and ready, standing up, armed with their smartphones, before the 42-year-old star began one of his hit songs Olurum Sana [I Will Die For You] as the giant curtains slowly rolled back, revealing the musician.
Between the audience’s screams and claps, Tarkan was finally seen being lowered down by an elevator to the middle of the stage.
The green-eyed, bearded singer was dressed in black and wearing an ornate jacket despite the sweltering weather.
When he started singing Sikidim – a song composed by fellow Turkish pop icon Sezen Aksu and later reproduced for European markets in 1998 – more than half of the audience were again on their feet.
It was five songs – mainly crowd-pleasers from his old albums – before Tarkan finally spoke to his audience.
“Even though it has been 23 years [since beginning performing] I am still excited,” Tarkan told the ecstatic crowd.
Blowing kisses to the audience, Tarkan finished the first part of his performance by singing Op [Kiss], a song from his 2010 album, while fans in the open-air theater stood up, clapping and singing along.
When the second part of his concert started after a 15-minute break, Tarkan was sitting with a six-strong group of traditional Turkish folk musicians, including Erkan Ogur, a pioneer of the fretless guitar.
The crowd sang along with folk songs such as Leylim Ley, Uzun Ince Bir Yoldayim, Alli Turnam, Mihriban and Ah Yalan Duna.
A usually apolitical singer Tarkan said between songs in a rare moment of dialog with the audience that folk music was “the essence of our culture”.
“We fell apart from each other in recent years but, in fact, our essence is one and we are all one,” he said.
When he passed from folk songs to one of his hits – Kuzu Kuzu, a single form 2001 – the audience gave him a standing ovation until the end of the concert.
He also sang other hits including Dudu, taken from a 2003 album which sold more than 1.5 million copies.
Performing his 2012 song Ask Gitti Bizden [Love Is Gone From Us] as an encore, Tarkan kept fluttering his tummy like a belly dancer while the curtains on the stage were slowly closed.
Tarkan’s debut album Yine Sensiz [Without You Once More] was released in 1992 and sold over 700,000 units, according to his official website.
