Tarkan Dazzles Thousands

Posted by Steffan Matrak from Moscow, Russia

Tarkan's record breaking, sell-out open air arena shows came to a close yesterday evening.

With its seventh and eight evening shows on Friday and Saturday, the undisputed megastar of Turkish pop put his stamp on an open air event to end all musical events.

A dazzling dynamite on stage, the arena exploded in a musical orgy of dance, light and musical hits to cement Tarkan as homegrown pop's king - a title held firmly for 25 years.

The seventh show played out under the banner of the July series' main sponsor, Turkish streaming site fizy. The site's partnership with Tarkan has been very successful, as fizy's usage has tripled since last year.

For the penultimate show, fizy's competition winners won seats to the event, while press reports write that the front row was filled with celebrities once again.

Amongst the celebrities in the audience on Friday was one time Turkish top model Deniz Akkaya. She said that it was her first Tarkan show with her daughter, and she was "super excited".

And writing for paper Milliyet, Gözde Çelik spoke about what she took with her from the 15 September show.

"There is no word in the Turkish language to describe Tarkan.... The word megastar doesn't do credit... When he appears on stage you feel as uplifted as if you had won the lottery," she said.

September Series Pulls 55,000 People

Performing for 8 dates in 10 days, at the show finale on Saturday the outdoor arena was packed to the brim with every seat filled, the press writes.

Among the various celebrities, lyricist Günay Çoban was in attendance at the last show, where he retweeted the visit as his second at the Harbiye. Known for enjoying a close working relationship, when Tarkan sang the latest songs they had worked on together, he thanked Çoban from the stage.

Radio DJ Michael Kuyucu was also at the 16 September show and tweeted videos and photos of the evening. Kuyucu's comments were filled with praise, unlike his comments seven years ago where he came out in condemnation of Tarkan over the banning of a sensationlist book trying to blur the lines of his sexuality.

Other shares came from one-time Tarkan signing Emir, who was outed as gay in 2011, with rumoured pictures of his transvestite lover circulating forums in 2012. Emir was last photographed with Tarkan backstage at a Harbiye show in 2015, before posting a share at Saturday evening's event.

Ending the show to a standing ovation, Tarkan promised to see the crowd again next year.

After the Show

Tarkan has shared photographs from Yiğit Eken's lens on Facebook from the last three shows to complete the set, while sharing his "love and gratitude" with fans and crew on Instagram.

And from Tarkan's live band, renowned guitarist Ayhan Günyıl also tweeted extra special thanks to the audience, as did Alp Ersönmez.

A video with another member of Tarkan's live band, Can Şengün, is being distributed on various social media accounts, showing the hard work that goes into a Tarkan show to make sure the thousands that come to see and hear Tarkan are not disappointed.

Initial estimates suggest that 55,000 people came to Tarkan's eight shows. On top of the 45,000 reported to have come to see Tarkan at the Harbiye in July, this puts total viewing figures at 100,000 people - well above the 80,000 estimated.

In other news of the end of concert tally, reports state that Tarkan wore specially designed 42 stage costumes to the price tag of 100,000 TL ($30,000).

Tarkan's Harbiye fall collection by Hatice Gökçe made the celeb columns, with Sabah paper Günaydın columnist Mert Vidinli spotting Tarkan's exclusive jackets on the rack at the designer's showroom. Vidinli spoke of Gökçe as the forefront of men's haute couture and of his admiration of the stylist's winter wardrobe for Tarkan.

Meanwhile, on the back of an eight night music marathon, columnist Barış Kocaoğlu, writing for paper Akşam, explained "why Tarkan is a megastar".

Kocaoğlu proclaims Tarkan as without a doubt "the male pop star of the summer", citing two sold out events in July and September, a total of 15 shows; each night jam-packed with excited fan and celebrity in an adrenaline pumped auditorium.

"It's good we've got Tarkan so we can witness such energy... He is so unique..." he said.

And Finally Some...

Some magazine reports have criticised Tarkan for finishing his Harbiye concerts "on time". The claims are that the 45 year-old has stopped doing encores and looked visibly tired towards the end of the evening when compared to past shows.

Other gossip is Tarkan's rumoured reluctance to feature on music buddy Yıldız Tilbe's tribute album. The rumour is that Tarkan agreed to appear on the album if he sang a new song and not one of Tilbe's past hits, thereby "ruining the concept" of the album.

UPDATE: Tilbe denies Tarkan rumour >>

Elsewhere, the gossip mill is churning with the rumour that Tarkan's wife is over two months pregnant. The singer and his camp are denying the rumours. Tarkan has expressed a desire for children, but has said any recent weight gain is because the married couple "love to cook".

And amongst excited media speculation that a mini-megastar might be on the way, is another rumour that Tarkan has been appeasing long time music producer Ozan Çolakoğlu by rejecting offers from other producers.

The latest celeb report claims that popular composer and producer Erdem Kınay had a song refused by Tarkan because of rivalry with Çolakoğlu, even though the pop artist liked the song.

The song could still see the light of day, however, as the Tarkan reject was reportedly snapped up by pop rival Hande Yener - although this was quickly denied by her.

Kınay last worked with Tarkan in 2008.

<< Everybody Loves Tarkan | Tarkan News Index | Tarkan's 13th Week on Top >>