News Snippets: Supporting Tarkan

Posted by Steffan Matrak from Moscow, Russia

A surf through of the most recent news stories mentioning Tarkan reveals updates on collaborations of all sorts with Turkish pop's royalty.

First up is the eagerly anticipated music collaboration between trans diva Bülent Ersoy and Turkish pop's megastar. Finally rumoured to be slated for release this weekend, the delay is reportedly due to a change of musical direction. The musical arrangements by pop music producer Ozan Çolakoğlu are said to have been passed over for Turkish classical maestro, and diva favourite, Taşkın Sabah. It indicates a traditional take on the Tarkan penned "Ümit Hırsızı" (Thief of Hope).

UPDATES: Megastar "back in studio" for Ersoy >>
Ersoy releases track (2019) >>

Previously, the outspoken diva had emphasised that rumours of a crisis over the song was "a complete fabrication". Ersoy had strenuously denied any rift with Tarkan, calling him an "old friend" and "people would believe what they wanted to believe".

Moving on, alongside stories that Tarkan showed his support for pop newcomer Hande Ünsal with a like on Instagram but has ignored his own cousin who is also a singer, is the temporary social media shock that a Tarkan tribute album might have been in the works.

On 26 June, on the Twitter account of the megastar's current music label exec Samsun Demir, there appeared a conversation that seemed to suggest a tribute album of Tarkan's career hits was in the works.

After the negative reaction from followers, two days later Demir tweeted to clarify that it wasn't a cover of Tarkan's songs, but that Tarkan would be featuring on a tribute for respected singer/songwriter Nazan Öncel, who has penned hits for Tarkan in the past.

UPDATE: Tarkan in Öncel tribute release >>

Tarkan lyricist Günay Çoban had even weighed in on the argument about whether a Tarkan tribute album was necessary. Çoban tweeted that no one could sing Tarkan's songs like Tarkan; neither Tarkan nor Demir would agree to such a project and Demir had meant Tarkan would be appearing on a tribute album.

The news Tarkan would be featuring on Öncel's album was reported back in April this year, on the back of news that Tarkan would no longer feature on music buddy Yıldız Tilbe's tribute album after much stalling.

Elsewhere, music engineer and pop artist Mustafa Ceceli has talked about how Tarkan's Father's Day share on social media had "moved him". Ceceli reminisced with reporters that Tarkan had told him how much he wanted to be a dad when they had been in the studio.

Ceceli revealed that Tarkan had played with Ceceli's young son and spoke of his wish to be a dad during the time they had worked together on the award-winning cover of the Sezen Aksu track "Firuze" (Firouzeh).

UPDATE: Ceceli starstruck on first meet with Tarkan >>

The track was from the award-winning 2013 tribute album Aysel'in (Aysel's) for lyricist and poet Aysel Gürel, who passed away in 2008.

High Approval for Tarkan

Tarkan's name has also been mentioned in news wires about other artists, with pop singer Demet Akalın's husband becoming a producer for a newcomer "Tarkan fan", while the iconic pop star also got a mention in an article about the international opera stage during the 46th Istanbul Music Festival.

Opera Wire's Jonathan Sutherland wrote about American operatic soprano Joyce DiDonato's appearance in Istanbul, noting that the popularity of baroque music in Turkey was "light years away from the general approbation accorded to local crooners such as Tarkan".

And lastly, there is an update about the four-year-old Tarkan fan whose plight captured the attention of Turkish celebrities - including Turkey's own mega-hearted megastar.

UPDATE: Mother asks for Turkish president to intervene >>

Reports say that now the four-year-old's mother has begun a petition online to "seek justice" for her daughter after alleged hospital failures disabled her child's internal organs, greatly impacting on the quality of her life.

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