ÖZLEM BULUT’s third album will be released in May 2023: “Ayna” means mirror and brings together 10 new songs that she worked on together with her band. Jürgen Plank spoke to the Vienna-based singer with Turkish roots about her beginnings as a street musician as well as about the singer AYNUR, who comes from the same region as she does. BULUT also explains why Kurdish is not her mother tongue, but why she will soon be singing in the first Kurdish opera. The new album will be presented on May 10th as part of the SALAM ORIENT festival in the Sargfabrik.
Another opera singer told me in an interview that she had also sung on the street. You completed classical singing training and also started as a street musician. How was this beginning?
Ozlem Bulut: I’ve only told this story once, but it was well received because it fits this Bollywood cliché: the poor girl starts singing in the street and later does opera. I grew up in a small port town in Turkey and there were no stages there, they made music in the streets and that’s how I started. Until my parents were scared about it and took me to the conservatory for the entrance exam. My father was an amateur musician and was always very supportive.
How has your music making developed in recent years?
Ozlem Bulut: Up until 4 or 5 years ago it was always important to me what other people think of me and I always wanted to be well received and play everywhere. Now I like what I’ve done. I was able to tell what I felt and you can probably only gain this feeling with time. I composed four songs for the new album.
“I’m lucky enough to work with great musicians”
On your new album “Ayna” you make a mixture of jazz, classical and ethno influences. How did this mix come about?
Ozlem Bulut: Europeans feel this ethno part that way, but that’s a Eurocentric view, for me it’s my music. Of course, my classical education is a completely different world compared to the music I heard from my parents at home. Then I came to Austria and took part in the folk opera sung, and I still remember my first concert in the Porgy & Bess. When you listen to the new album: it’s not just my music, it’s the music we made together as a band. You hear a band here. I’m lucky to work with great musicians. Two of the musicians have am Berklee College studied, Andrej Prozorov is also in my band.
You have roots in the province of Tunceli, which is where the famous Kurdish singer comes from Aynur, which is very political and critical and therefore always has problems. Has her work influenced you?
Ozlem Bulut: There are many female singers there, but no. I like her very much and enjoy listening to her music, but she wasn’t a role model for me. There are great singers who use language and music as a political tool. The Kurdish language was banned for a long time and everything you do with Kurdish music is political. Aynur is a political singer. I come from a completely different corner, because my mother tongue is not Kurdish. My grandfather experienced the massacres under Atatürk himself and always refused to be Kurdish. My mother is Turkish and my mother tongue is Turkish, but I have a great deal of sympathy for the Kurdish movement. Musically, I love traditional folk music, but I’m all for composing new songs. I think it’s nice to sing the traditional songs over and over again, but I tell myself: let’s make new music! I’m just as interested in electronic music, I want to go in that direction too.
On your new album you use a text by the Turkish poet Birhan Keskin, which deals with building projects. Destruction of nature is the overarching theme. How did this text find its way onto the album?
Ozlem Bulut: I took a longer break, my second CD was released about 8 years ago. I didn’t listen to music for a while either, eventually I started reading and listening to music again and a friend suggested that I could work with texts by Turkish avant-garde female poets. That was a good idea and I just stuck with Keskin. I love her because she writes with humor: the song in question is about a construction worker talking to God. He says: I have a platonic love for God. And then he complains about the Erdogan regime.
Please tell me about one more song from the new album?
Ozlem Bulut: “Yesilcam” was composed by Marco Annau. This is a song about old Turkish cinema. When I was young, I sat at home a lot and watched a lot of old Turkish films in black and white. They’re a bit similar to Bollywood movies. My character was shaped a lot by these films.
How do you generally develop a song?
Ozlem Bulut: Most of the time I’ll take my phone, hum a tune and record vocals. So I collect sketches over time. When we started the compositions for the album, I went back to these sketches and we thought about which language we would make the album in: German, English or Turkish.
“I was told: put on make-up, make yourself pretty and don’t show anyone that you are unwell”
You sing in Turkish, but you sing one number on the album “Ayna” in German, the “Girls’ Song”.
Ozlem Bulut: Even though I’ve been a singer for around 20 years: when I Love sing, right? Love [Anm.: türkisch für Liebe], then it just sounds different in my mother tongue. Some feelings can only be expressed in the mother tongue. The “Girls’ Song” is in German because I experienced this love, this emotional phase, in German. That’s why I couldn’t do this song in Turkish, but only in German. The song is about the fact that as a woman you should always be beautiful. No wound should show. I was told: put on make-up, make yourself pretty and don’t show anyone that you’re in a bad way. In this respect it is also a mirror song. We women in particular always have to keep ourselves upright, always function.
You sing with the project Baroque Arabesquewith which you will meet on May 15, 2023 in Wiener concert hall will perform, also a Sephardic song in Spanish. One of the new pieces is entitled “Tango”. Do you have a musical interest towards Latin America?
Ozlem Bulut: I didn’t know that either, but it’s very interesting that Istanbul was a center for tango music around 100 years ago. There are a lot of Turkish Tangos. what i with Baroque Arabesque do has to do with my side as an opera singer. For example, I sing Handel arias, but with oud accompaniment. Or I sing Sephardic songs, which I love very much, accompanied by baroque instruments such as harpsichord, viol and baroque percussion.
Vienna is of course the city of music. Is that why you came to Vienna and to what extent does it suit you today to act from here?
Ozlem Bulut: I was an Erasmus student and I just wanted to get out of Turkey. I studied opera singing and in this area Vienna is one of the most important places in the world. Coming to Vienna for jazz is not a good idea. The scene here is very small compared to London, New York or Berlin. But because my roots also lie in classical music, Vienna was definitely a good choice for me.
“There is a fan base in Turkey, people like our music”
You’ve also played in Turkey, how was the feedback?
Ozlem Bulut: Very good, we had great feedback. There is a fan base in Turkey, people like our music. The question is if I can fly to Turkey again, but we’ll see what happens after the next elections.
I once spoke to Ulrich Drechsler about his project “Liminal Zone”, in which you are involved. How do you get involved there and what is special about this project for you?
Ozlem Bulut: On “Liminal Zone” I’m the soprano and I’m doing the vocals, I’m the coloratura soprano. The texts will be read by Yasmin Hafedh.
You will soon be engaged as an opera singer for a special evening in Germany.
Ozlem Bulut: Exactly, on Saturday, May 13th, I will sing the first Kurdish opera “Mem û Zîn” in Wiesbaden. Opera is my job and my passion, but it wouldn’t be enough variety for me to do just that. This opera was composed by a Turkish composer, the text is in Kurdish, based on the Kurdish epic “Mem û Zîn” from the 17th century.
Many thanks for the interview.
Jurgen Plank
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Ozlem Bulut live:
Wed, May 10, 2023: Album presentation, Sargfabrik, Goldschlagstraße 169, 1140 Vienna, 7:30 p.m
Fr 12.5.2023: Baroque Arabesque, Bad Vöslau
Mon, May 15, 2023: Baroque Arabesque, Konzerthaus, 1030 Vienna, 7:30 p.m
Do 25.05.2023: Guntramsdorf, Barock Arabesque
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Links:
Ozlem Bulut
Ozlem Bulut (Instagram)
Ozlem Bulut (Facebook)