Category: Features

Features
“Migration is the big topic in every corner of the world” – director Serkan Nihat on his powerful debut feature film Exodus

Serkan Nihat’s directorial debut film Exodus has won the Best Drama Feature 2024 award at this year’s London Independent Film Festival (LIFF). Set in Turkiye, the hard hitting migration drama received a standing ovation when it premiered at the festival earlier this month. Inspired by the global refugee crisis, Exodus homes in on two Turkish […]

Books
Özlem Warren on her Antakya roots, changing perceptions about Turkish cuisine and new vegetarian cookbook Sebze

From television cooks Nigella Lawson and Sabrina Ghayour-Lynn to food writer Diana Henry and the Stylist Magazine, Turkish culinary expert Özlem Warren has got everyone raving about her brand new cookbook Sebze, which is now available worldwide. ‘Sebze’ translates as vegetables in Turkish and this gorgeous new hardback features a treasure trove of vegetarian recipes, […]

Features
New faces top Spotify’s most streamed Turkish albums and artists of 2023

With another year wrapping up, we take a look at 2023’s most streamed Turkish artists, albums and tracks on the world’s biggest music streaming platform Spotify. Music streaming sites such as Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube, together with social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, have opened the doors wider than ever for Turkish musicians […]

Features
Turkish Cypriot musician Sal Ormandji realises his dream with stunning debut album Sazmania – Emotions

In every community there are hidden talents, not least in the British Turkish community. We recently discovered the immensely gifted multi-instrumentalist Salahi ‘Sal’ Ormandji. This Turkish Cypriot from Islington, North London, has been performing for over 35 years, and, at the tender age of 51-years-old, has just released his first ever solo album Sazmania – […]

Features
Derya Yıldırım and Grup Şimşek: from “raw, naïve and simple beginnings” to a “special” Anatolian musical jigsaw

Derya Yıldırım and Grup Şimşek are a firm favourite on the indie music circuit with their infectious Anatolian psych-pop groove that’s heavily influenced by the likes of Selda Bağcan, Aşık Mahzuni Şerif, and Barış Manço. Music anthropologist, DJ and friend Sebastian “Booty” Carrell (B-music) introduced lead singer and bağlama player Derya Yıldırım to Graham Mushnik […]

Features
Turks continue to cancel subscriptions after Disney+ abandons Atatürk TV drama, but is the reaction justified?

Disney+ has lost tens of thousands of subscribers after cancelling its plans to air a television drama series about Atatürk. Turks worldwide have reacted furiously to the cancellation news, ostensibly due to American anti-Turkish lobbying, but was the reaction justified? Last year, Turks were thrilled to learn that Disney+ (Disney Plus) was planning to produce […]

Features
The incredible life and legacy of Erkin Koray: the godfather of Anatolian rock, 1941-2023

The term ‘musical legend’ is overused, but in the case of Erkin Koray it is entirely justified. The free-spirited, guitar-playing singer-songwriter is one Turkiye’s most significant artists of the past 60 years; a pioneer of Anatolian and psychedelic rock, the composer of some of Turkiye’s most memorable hits and, together with Orhan Gencebay, the inventor […]

Features
Music inspired by Istanbul’s “kingpins and beggars”, electro rock band Lalalar bares all ahead of UK tour

Musically impossible to pigeon-hole, Lalalar’s sound is a futuristic mash-up straddling punk rock, Anatolian psychedelic funk, and dirty electronic beats. Iggy Pop is a fan, describing them as “Turkey’s most innovative alternative artists”. The band’s name is adapted from the Ottoman word ‘Lālā’ (meaning “wise man”), used to describe the teacher of Sultans. It’s an […]