Tarkan Deluxe: Tarkan Celebrates Children's Day

By Adelind Osmanlı reporting from Munich, Germany

Following the report published by Turkish media blog TarkanPLUS, Tarkan's live performance for state broadcaster TRT's 30th anniversary International Children's Day celebrations in Antalya, Turkey, is reported to have been a spectacular event.

Tarkan did not sing live but lip-synced his songs, with a chorus amounting to six hundred children from all across the world, showing his home nation that he is still very much young at heart.


Tarkan performing live for International Children's Day in Turkey but not singing live; Screen-shots by TarkanPLUS

TarkanPLUS' report details that in the first half of the show Tarkan sang "Dilli Düdük", "Arada Bir", "Dedikodu" from his award-winning 2007 album, and "Dudu" from his acclaimed 2003 EP.

In the second half of his performance, a chorus of African children opened with his classic "Kuzu Kuzu", which continued when the artist joined them on stage to sing the song together. Following on from this, Tarkan performed with children again for his track "Verme", also from his 2001 critically acclaimed Karma album, stopping to say:

"A child's greatest wish is a world in peace. That's all their unspoilt hearts want. Shall we give them what they want?"


Tarkan's TRT performance for International Children's Day; Photos by Hürriyet

During the concert, Tarkan also spoke to his family in the audience, sending kisses to his mother, brother and sister, while just before his finale song he called out to the children, "Kids I love staying a kid. I'm one of you. This is my day, too!"

Reportedly saying in a 2006 interview that his greatest pastimes include flying kites and playing with animals, the artist managed to let loose the child inside him on International Children's Day, and ended his performance under a rain of confetti singing "Vay Anam Vay".

Tarkan's performance was held at the Glass Pyramid Sabancı Congress and Exhibition Center (Cam Piramit) and aired live on TRT, as confirmed by his official site two days before the eagerly anticipated event.