Tarkan's Fill of Social Fizz
Tarkan has been more active than usual on social media again this week, sharing three posts in almost as many days.
On Saturday, Tarkan posted a still from a video shoot, on Sunday he posted another of his "walks of nature" and on Tuesday he shared an update on an environmental campaign.
After Tarkan posted a video to tell his followers he was filming a fifth music video off his 2017 album, Tarkan decided to post a still from the shoot to share the moment he was "thinking of his fans" on Saturday.
On the same day, Tarkan's own company HITT Productions tweeted the name of the track for the fifth drop off 10. The HITT tweet hashtagged track "O Sevişmeler" by 90s collaborator Ümit Sayın.
UPDATES: Tarkan shares second photo of "O Sevişmeler" >>
Fifth video released on YouTube >>
Tarkan: "I Am a Man of Nature"
His third share came on the Sunday, where he posted a video of himself taking a walk in the woods.
"I don't know whether you enjoy or are sick of shares like these," the singer wrote to his followers about his walks in nature posts, "but I'm going to keep posting these videos and photos".
UPDATES: Tarkan shares another woodland trek >>
Tarkan's kaleidoscope trek >>
Believing in the power to heal by immersing yourself in nature, as different titans of art before him, Tarkan added that "as a man of nature ... I equate myself with nature, with trees, with woodland, with greenery".
He also openly accepted his father's Black Sea region heritage - known for their love of animals and the outside - by describing himself as a "Black Sea region man". The singer signed off by wishing his followers "a happy Sunday" in English and Turkish.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday the singer reposted a share on social media by Turkish nature conservation society Doğa Derneği about a successful legal campaign to save the habitat of Turkey's flamingos.
The threat from destruction by the government-led development of the natural reserve of the Gediz Delta, one of the most important sites for the breeding of flamingos, has been blocked by the courts. The development had previously been halted until the court had given its decision in the case.
Tarkan thanked and applauded "everyone involved in making the decision" to leave the wetlands untouched, and that he was "very happy" for the flamingos.
A-Fizzin' and A-Bubblin' Tarkan Jive
Elsewhere, Tarkan's controversial ad for an American drinks giant in Turkey has been released, emulating the viral dance crazes that have become the new music videos.
Tarkan's signing with drinks giant Coca-Cola sees Tarkan's shoulder-jive go viral as he flies to a show and finds himself sharing the stage with a star-struck stagehand.
The sleepy singer is waiting at an airport lounge for his plane when an offered refreshment of Coca-Cola perks up the singer to start a jumping jive.
His cheery shoulder bumps go viral across social media, and in the video Tarkan's infectious dance is copied across the globe and even in space.
Savour the moment with Coca-Cola and Tarkan?
The signing has attracted criticism from some quarters - as Tarkan is known for his organic lifestyle. Promoting a drink high in sugar for money that he wouldn't give to his daughter has led some fans to deride the singer's decision.
The shoulder-jive was reportedly worth 3m TL ($560,000/£445,000) or 10m TL ($1.8m/£1.5m) - depending on which rumour you believe in the press.
UPDATE: Columnists: Good and Bad >>
Tarkan had teased the new commercial via social media with an early morning video.
Rival Sends Up Tarkan Coke Ad
Playing on words, Lipton's line "Don't take the easy route" can also be read as "Don't run to coke" when you need a drink to satisfy your thirst. The ad even quotes Tarkan's track "Dudu" (Dudu, 2003) with one of the actor's saying "lıkır lıkır içiliyor" (it's not carbonated so you can "chug it back"). It's believed "Dudu" had been written with Pepsi in mind, but was used for a petroleum sponsor instead.
UPDATES: Challange ad removed from YouTube >>
Second challange ad from Lipton >>
The tea commercial's protagonist also does the Tarkan "shoulder-jive" when he is surprised to see young people turn to ice tea for their choice of drink.
Many may be surprised to learn that Turkey produces between 6% and 10% of the globe’s tea - making it one of the world's top five tea-growing nations. Turkey is one of Unilever's main centres of tea agriculture, and British brand Lipton has launched a Sustainable Tea Agriculture project in Turkey, benefiting farmers and consumers.
Tea claimed a prominent position in the nation's psyche and social practices following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, when coffee became expensive with the loss of coffee-making lands.
With encouragement from the country’s leader at the time, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, because tea could be easily grown and made domestically, and partially because it fit in better with plans to secularise and westernise the nation, Turkey began to embrace tea.
Drink Lipton Ice Tea, "Don't Run To Coke"
Ironically, the vast majority of Turkey’s tea leaves are grown along its Black Sea coastline, in the north of the country - where Tarkan's paternal heritage hails from. The tea growing territory stretches eastward, from the city of Rize, along the shoreline all the way to the boundary with Georgia.
In real life, Tarkan is probably more a tea drinker than a Coca-Cola user, and being a "Black Sea man", it would have been considered more authentic by his critics had he promoted a drink more in line with his views.
Turkish-Dutch Columnist Channels Tarkan
And finally, Özcan Akyol, a Turkish-Dutch journalist, has taken the Top 2000 to task for its lack of diverse representation and sticking to a white middle aged man demographic in a recent article.
Akyol came under attack on social media and in the Dutch press over his criticism of the "white men over 60" Top 2000, which he argued had corrupted a discussion on the diversity debate - forcing him to declare that irony as a style of argument in Holland was dead.
"Everyone remembers how Tarkan conquered Western Europe with his magisterial and timeless song: "Kiss Kiss" ("Şımarık", 1997). Tarkan's snub by the main music list of our country ignores its democratic origins as a list composed by regular listeners ... or do all the participants have to be blind to the beauties of other types of music," Akyol had asked in his initial column.
Top 2000 is an annual marathon radio programme that plays the 2000 most popular songs of all time, from Christmas through New Year's Eve. Hosted by Dutch national radio station NPO Radio 2, over half of the population of the Netherlands listens to the broadcast each year.
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posted by Tarkan Deluxe at 11:59 pm
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