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Sezen Aksu drive finally got Turkey to apply for the Eurovision Song contest in the mid-70s. Ironically however, even though she competed in the national finals for the competition three times - "Küçük Bir Aşk Masalı" (A Little Love Tale) was a duet with Özdemir Erdoğan, "Heyamola" was performed as a trio with Coşkun Demir and Ali Kocatepe and "1945" was her solo performance - none got the chance to represent Turkey abroad. It was to be left to her pupil Erener to win the Eurovision and realise Aksu's dream to push her musical vision further into Europe.
In the 80's, Aksu had a relationship with producer Onno Tunç that was
both romantic and professional. The couple put their signatures to
works that broke new ground in Turkish pop music, such as Sen Ağlama
(Don't Cry), Git (Go), Sezen Aksu'88 and Sezen Aksu Söylüyor (Sezen
Aksu Sings). Her music matured in the 90's, when she co-produced her
best selling album to-date Gülümse (Smile) with Tunç. The A-1 track
from the album called Hadi Bakalım (Come On Now) was a hit in Turkey
and Europe, and was published as a single in Germany. It was to be
later rediscovered in Europop by singer Loona as Rhythm of the Night.
She also began to produce albums for her vocalists, notably producing
Aşkın Nur Yengi's debut album Sevgiliye (To the One I Love) again with
Tunç. She was to repeat this successfully with artists Erener and
Yüksel.
Parting ways with Tunç, in 1995, Aksu branched out with the
experimental album Işık Doğudan Yükselir (Light Rises From the East),
drawing both on western classical and regional Turkish musical
traditions. This album made her name outside Turkey and gave her a
world music following across Europe. In 1996, she released Düş
Bahçeleri (Dream Gardens) as a tribute to Tunç, who died that same year
tragically when his private plane crashed. In 1997, she released Düğün
ve Cenaze (The Wedding And The Funeral), this time collaborating with
Goran Bregović.
She returned to her roots with Adı Bende Saklı (Its Name Is Hidden In
Me), which was released in 1998. She began to use experimental sounds
and was once again pushing Turkish pop into the future. Aksu continued
with this trend with her subsequent albums Deliveren (Crazymaker),
Şarkı Söylemek Lazım (Gotta Sing), Yaz Bitmeden (Before The Summer
Ends) between the years 2000 - 2003. After a two year hiatus, she
returned with Bahane (Excuse) in 2005. That same year she released
Kardelen (Snowdrop) where all proceeds went to charity, and before the
end of 2005 released a Bahane/Remixes (Excuse/Remixes) double-CD album
which contained the original Bahane album in disc one and the remixes
of songs in Bahane in disc two. At the end of the year her albums
Bahane, Kardelen and the re-released album Şarkı Söylemek Lazım were
the three best-selling albums in the country.
In 2005 she was featured in Fatih Akin's documentary film "Crossing the
Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul" with a performance of the song "Istanbul
Hatirasi." Aksu has recently been re-releasing all her old classics
digitally remastered and with specially designed new sleeves. After her
concert tour in summer 2006, she will record a new album in the USA.
Sezen Aksu performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, on 7th October
2007. After Zeki Muren, she is the second Turkish artist to have
performed at RAH, London.
New York City based label Breaking Records released Karine Hannah’s
debut cd "I'll Be Alright" on July 31, 2007. Hannah collaborated with
producers Eve Nelson (Hayley Westenra, Laura Branigan, Chaka Kahn) and
Ayhan Sahin (Sandra Bernhard, Beu Sisters, Vonzell Solomon) on an album
of English-language covers originally recorded by Turkey’s
most-acclaimed female singer/songwriter Sezen Aksu. Recorded in New
York, “I’ll Be Alright” recasts some of Turkey’s most memorable songs
with English lyrics and contemporary arrangements, conceived, arranged
and produced by Nelson and Sahin. Standouts on Hannah’s album include
“I’ll Be Alright” inspired by the Vanity Fair article on Jennifer
Aniston after the split, “Drink” sure to be a juke box favorite, “Crash
& Burn” about where the planet is going if we don’t wake up, and
the beautiful “Someday”.
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