Positive Contributions

TZ with Wires, "Mercan Dede’s ‘800’ tops European charts for two consecutive months" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Monday, June 16, 2008

DJ and ney (reed flute) artist Mercan Dede, who has a special flair for merging music from diverse cultures in his compositions, has had another outstanding success in the last two months, with his latest album, "800," topping the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE), a first for a Turkish musician.

The WMCE was founded in May 1991 by 11 radio producers from 11 countries on behalf of the World Music Workshop of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Once a month radio world music specialists from 23 European countries select their individual top 10 favorites out of current world music releases from their playlists and mail them to Berlin. The nominations are processed in a database and the top 10 are then published as the WMCE.

Mercan Dede -- also known as Arkın Ilıcalı -- released the album last year and dedicated it to the 13th century Sufi saint and poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi on the 800th anniversary of his birth. It is currently the seventh on the chart, and has been in the top 20 for the last seven months.

Ilıcalı, during a news conference ahead of a gig in his hometown of Bursa last week, said "800" first topped the WMCE in April, adding that the chart was regarded as one of the most prestigious world music charts in the world. "My album '800' was number one in May, as well. This is the first time that an album by a Turkish artist has remained number one for two months. This success does not belong to me in person, but to Turkish music," he said.

Ilıcalı likened his music to what whirling dervishes, or semazens, do during their sema ceremonies: "In sema, one foot of the semazen is placed at the center. Like them, one of my feet is at the center -- our own culture and country -- while my other foot travels around the world. In this way, I promote our culture. The biggest factor in the entry of a Turkish artist in the WMCE is the ability to go between the past and the present and between the traditional and the modern in the quest for attaining universality."

He noted that with every new album, he gets a new chance to address wider audiences. "When I first started my career, only 500 or 600 people would attend my concerts. Now this number has risen to 3,500-4,000. What makes me happy about the interest people have in my music is that people from different groups in society tend to listen to my music. Girls wearing the headscarf as well as young people who like punk can lend an ear to my tunes. Perhaps the unifying power of Sufism and music is best reflected in these projects," he said.

Ilıcalı said music serves to push people to think and question as much as to entertain themselves. "Ney comes as an interesting musical instrument to foreign ears. This leads to an extraordinary process of questioning. During the last eight years, the "Masnavi" has been among the most translated books in North America. The fact that 200,000 or 300,000 copies of the "Masnavi" are being published in the US deserves attention. Though there are always preconceptions in the West toward the East, there is a new quest in the West for understanding the East. I am trying to make positive contributions to this process," he noted.

Regarding his upcoming projects, Ilıcalı stated that he was planning to work with folk singer Sabahat Akkiraz and classical pianist-composer Fazıl Say again in a new project, of which he did not disclose the details. He also plans to compose the soundtrack for a film by Turkish-German film director Fatih Akın. He added that he has some projects for the Turkish Year in France, a series of cultural events to be held in France in 2009.

Six years ago, Ilıcalı began a project of releasing four albums, each representing one of the four elements: fire, water, air and earth. He has released "Nar" (Fire), "Su" (Water) and "Nefes" (Breath). Regarding the finale album in the series, Ilıcalı said the time was not yet ripe for this album and that he has postponed preparations for it.