MIDDLE EAST PROFILES SERIES – INTERVIEW WITH TURKEY’S EMRE YILMAZ

Freedom Beat teamed up with Arash Sobhani of the Iranian band Kiosk, and Iranwire.com on a series of documentary profiles of contemporary Middle Eastern music artists who engage in nonviolent resistance through the medium of music. Arash traveled with journalist Jahanshah Javid of Iranwire to Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon in August of 2013 to meet musicians, interview them, share ideas, and to play music together.

Young Turks Stay Free by Arash Sobhani

Istanbul is probably one of the most fascinating places in the world.  While this has has been the case for a while now, it has become even more interesting recently.  Some may say it’s because of the economic boom that Turkey has enjoyed in recent years.  Some may argue that the push for joining the EU has transformed the country.  But I think there is something about the attitude of the young Turks that makes Istanbul such a unique place.

Walking in the streets of this beautiful city, you can feel that a new generation of Turks are in the process of redefining their identity without cutting from their roots.  You can listen to jazz and enjoy your beer in a cafe while the sound of the Moazin is coming from a mosque a block away.  Artists play a major role in this rapid progress of Turkish culture.  Writers, directors, architects and musicians are all at work in chiseling out a new Eastern cultural model that is both progressive and tolerant.  Emre Yilmaz and his amazing friends are some of these men at work. They are informed, open minded, educated, and responsible.

On the porch of a friend’s house, where Emre and his friends also have a home studio, we spent an afternoon discussing Gezi Park and the role musicians played there.  Given the relative social freedom Turkey enjoys, the government has more difficulty controlling artists.  Yet, that does not stop the government.  Over time, much smarter and more elaborate methods were adopted by the government to achieve the goal of controlling what artists can create.

Ete Kurrtekin, Murat Hicdonmez, and Emre Yilmaz all have a very good understanding of these methods, their intentions, and the blurred lines. I enjoyed the discussion very much – the beer, the pleasant weather, and the ride in the scenic road to their place on the hills helped too!

I also had the chance to sit with Emre and Murat and play on one of their songs; “We are on the Streets” which was written for the Gezi park events.  Emre studied guitar in NYC, yet his touch on the instrument has that beautiful Turkish accent I really like.

Executive Producers: Maziar Bahari, Daryn Cambridge, Tim O’Keefe
Produced by Jahanshah Javid
Directed by Tim O’Keefe, Arash Sobhani, Irene Su
Edited by Irene Su
Interviews by Jahanshah Javid, Arash Sobhani
Camera & Sound by Mohammad Talani, Jahanshah Javid
Freedom Beat logo animation by Sang Un Jeon
Freedom Beat Middle East Series animation by Beth Wexler
Music by Tim O’Keefe

Special thanks to Iranwire.com and The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict for their support & collaboration in the making of this series.