Rock musician Hakan Tuna returns with the second track of the year, Nazlanma Güzel Nazlanma, which in English means ‘Don’t Play Hard To Get Beautiful Don’t Play Hard To Get’

The song, first recorded by Konkurt in 1977, is part of Tuna’s ‘12 Songs 12 Stories’ project, where he pays homage to the UK band and specifically its keyboard player Hüseyin Katkın, who inspired him as a teenager.

Konkurt were a London based Turkish Cypriot band who performed from 1973 to 1989. Whilst they were prominent on the wedding circuit, they also released their own songs, which were written by the band’s singer/keyboard player Hüseyin Katkın. Today these records have become collectors’ items.

Tuna was first introduced to Konkurt during his early teens, when his own interest in music was developing. Their folk-pop sound stood out to him the most as it was modern, unlike the traditional Arabesque music commonly heard at Turkish weddings.

“I had not been playing keyboards very long and was really interested in watching others play, so during one of these weddings I snuck up next to the band and was intensely watching Hüseyin Katkın playing and singing, he noticed me and nodded over for me to come next to him and watch, which I of course did, then the band started playing Işte Hendek Işte Deve by Baris Manco,” Tuna writes in his press notes.

He continues, “After the first verse, when it was time for the instrumental break, he nodded at me to play. I was nervous, but there was no time to think, so I started playing the short melodic section of the song. It maybe lasted 30-40 seconds, but for me it was all my 14-year-old brain could think about for the next few days. After I played, he gave me a ‘thumbs up’ and I left the band area thinking yes this is what I want to do as well.”

“That fleeting moment was my first time on stage, and I remember my whole body shaking. It’s a great memory that I will treasure for ever,” Tuna adds as part of the story behind his latest song Nazlanma Güzel Nazlanma, a tribute to Konkurt and Hüseyin Katkın for encouraging his career as a singer-songwriter.

Although Tuna has spoken to Katkın a few times on the telephone, the two have yet to “properly” meet, which Tuna hopes to rectify “once the pandemic is over.”

You can can listen to Tuna’s cover of Nazlanma Güzel Nazlanma on Bandcamp or digitally download the track for just £1.