Reverberations from Istanbul
Artist/writer Jim Haynes first turned me on to the records of Turkish musician Ekin Fil in 2016 when his label Helen Scarsdale Agency released Being Near. I was immediately taken by this ambient, droney creator, whose record showcased soundscapes that were beautifully dark, sparse…lonely yet comfortable…like a heavy cloud slowly breezing through a foggy bay. Her music reminded me of the quiet parts of the darkest This Mortal Coil and Eno records: a soundtrack to a journey through an ancient cave or a deep old-growth redwood forest, coming from the school of Jóhann Jóhannsson (she, like Jóhannsson, has scored films) with delayed keyboard and guitar reverberations, and Ekin’s voice distantly echoing through.
In 2018 she came out with one of my favorite of her releases, the even dronier, Maps. It was around this time that my nine-year-old daughter Kaya and I started listening to quiet records at bedtime, a practice I had adopted when I was in junior high…finding records that I could get lost in, records that would help my young, active brain settle down for the evening. We started with my go-to record from those days, Side B of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn. Kaya had heard me playing Maps and soon after suggested we throw it on her turntable. And we did. And for countless nights we would light a candle in her room and listen to the soft, meditative sounds of Ekin Fil, the audio waves flickering with the dancing flame.
Ekin recently released a new record, Feelings, which continues her artistic journey through her visions of a slow, beautiful somber world. Kaya and I were both up early on a Saturday morning, watching the dark sky start changing with orange and red pastels across the horizon, setting the stage for a sunrise. We had Feelings playing as our soundtrack, and Kaya and I started pondering what made Ekin Üzeltüzenci (her real name) decide to create the sounds she had recorded on record after record. It was during this conversation that we thought, what if we reached out to her with questions from Kaya…would she answer them? Kaya came up with a handful of questions, which Ekin sweetly responded to, responses that offer insight into a truly talented artist that is still somewhat unknown, mysterious like her music…
Kaya: What first gave you the inspiration to write music? What artists or works of art have you been inspired by?
Ekin: Oh, I don't remember at all :) I've been like this for as long as I can remember, I guess that's why I don't have a first memory. But of course, there have been many things/persons that have inspired me over the years. music, movies, words, landscapes…constantly changing from ancient times to today…
Kaya: Are there any movies that come to mind? I love horror movies. Do you?
Ekin: Yes, I love horrors too! I may be more into psychological scary movies such as "Don't Look Now,” or "Dead Calm.” Also I am quite into dramatic movies like "La Dentellière" . It is one of my favourites...
Kaya: Why did you call your record "Feelings"? What feelings do you want the listener to feel when listening to your songs?
Ekin: In the first period of the pandemic, while working on this album, I felt many different emotions together like everyone else. I can often be brutally realistic and sometimes even pessimistic. In moments like these, what I know and say to myself is “take it easy. These are feelings and none of them last forever. There will be moments when I can feel better later, just wait." My recipe for enduring hard days is something like this. That's roughly how it was during this period, so I thought it was an appropriate name for the album. I may be leaving the listeners in a darkness that drags me along, but I don't think it's a hopeless album overall. I hope the light was filtering in from somewhere in the album.
Kaya: What are you reading and listening to right now?
Ekin: Selahattin Demirtaş1: “Efsun”
Kaya: How were you and your music affected by the pandemic?
Ekin: I am working at home normally and I thought at first that I wouldn't be affected by this. but then not being able to go out and not knowing when this will end made me worry too. Musically, I never stopped. I collaborated with many musicians, even albeit from afar. My own solo works also continued. I can say that it was a time when I was productive.
Kaya: To me your music is a little dark but extremely beautiful. How would you describe your music?
Ekin: I also think it's dark. But I don't want to think it's hopeless.
Kaya: What are you working on now?
Ekin: There are a couple of themes that I am composing for a project, but they have been rejected so I'm working on how I can rearrange them. Also I am working on new tracks for other projects as well.
To Music
By: Rainer Maria Rilke 2
Music. The breathing of statues. Perhaps:
The quiet of images. You, language where
languages end. You, time
standing straight from the direction
of transpiring hearts.
Feelings, for whom? O, you of the feelings
changing into what? – into an audible landscape.
You stranger: music. You chamber of our heart
which has outgrown us. Our inner most self,
transcending, squeezed out, --
holy farewell:
now that the interior surrounds us
the most practiced of distances, as the other
side of the air:
pure,
enormous
no longer habitable.
I had not heard of Selahattin Demirtaş. I asked Ekin about him and she wrote back, “Selahattin Demirtaş, the co- former of the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), has been kept in prison for nearly 6 years despite European Court of Human Rights decision saying he needed to be released. He is being held in jail because he was just a big threat to the government as a politician because his arguments and speeches are too peaceful and impressive. He has been a 100% rising young politician in Turkey since 2010. and now he is constantly writing, painting from prison.” He is also a writer, and I could find only one book of his that has been translated into English, Dawn. If you go to the amazon page and push the listen button, a robotic voice will read a partial biography on Demirtaş, who sounds like quite the champion for peace.