Tarkan & Aksu: "The Duet of the Year"

Posted by Steffan Matrak from Moscow, Russia

Celebrity portal Uçankuş has published a song sung by Turkish pop icons Tarkan and Sezen Aksu, describing it as the pop powerhouse duo's first singing collaboration and proclaiming it as the "duet of the year".

It's from Turkish producer Yaşar Gaga's album Alakasız Şarkılar released under Poll Production's ticket with arrangements by Kivanch K.

UPDATE: Gaga dead at 44 >>

The song "Ceylan" was reported about as far back as 2010, rumoured to have been considered for Tarkan's studio release of that year, but failing to make the cut.

The track had generated media buzz seven years ago, with Tarkan Deluxe founder Ali Yildirim writing that he anticipated it to be his favourite track on release.

After failing to make the listing for Tarkan's 2010 album, the song ultimately went to female jazz and pop singer Nükhet Duru for her 2012 album Tam Zamanında.

Duru hit the international charts when her 1978 song "Ben Sana Vurgunum" was heavily sampled by The Weeknd in his song "Often" from his 2015 album, Beauty Behind the Madness.

English translation | Translation notes

Back in 2010, celebrity correspondent Oben Budak had written about the song "Ceylan" pre-release, saying that the track beautifully described "the mosaic nature" of Turkey.

"There is one song ... called "Ceylan" which stands out from the rest ... in tribute to a little girl called Ceylan who lost her life when she inadvertently came across a bomb in Diyarbakır in September 2009.

"If music unites, after Sezen Aksu, Tarkan is the best name to do this," he wrote.

More recently, Suat Kavukluoğlu writing for NTV spoke about how the duet came to be, revealing that Tarkan's desire to sing on a track with his musical mentor was an old one.

Initially, Tarkan wanted to sing a duet with Aksu for his producer/arranger Ozan Çolakoğlu's debut album 01.

Planned for the 2012 version of Aksu's 90s dance hit "Hadi Bakalım", when that didn't get off the ground, it would be five years later before producer Gaga would finally unite the pair.

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