Category: Features

Features
New star Adnan Mustafa on playing Engin in Idris Elba’s new film Yardie

There has been a big buzz around Yardie, the directorial debut of screen legend Idris Elba, which hits UK cinemas this weekend. Giving a close-up view of Jamaican culture, the film also features two Turkish Cypriot actors: Akin Gazi and Adnan Mustafa, who play onscreen brothers Arif and Engin. Based on Victor Headley’s bestselling book […]

Features
The 10 best MFÖ songs
 

  When my editor asked me to pick my favourite ten songs by legendary band MFÖ in advance of their London concert on 18 March, I didn’t think it would be this hard. The band formed in 1980 – more than a decade before I was born – and they still comprise of the original […]

Features
Love Island: Kem’s mum Figen Cetinay on her “sensitive boy”

  Reality TV shows are like marmite: you either love them or hate them. Those featuring semi-naked participants that jump into bed at every available opportunity generate even stronger opinions, with opponents claiming such programmes objectify contestants, while others label them as “sneak porn” due to their overtly sexual nature. So when Figen Cetinay found out […]

Culture
Turkey’s psychedelic kings BaBa ZuLa turn 20
Described as “art-anarchists”, BaBa ZuLa have carved out a name as fine purveyors of alternative Anatolian music, a hip psychedelic blend of electro, dub, funk, rock ‘n’ folk. Lyrically conscious, their other-worldly Oriental dance beats, playful dress sense, and surreal live performances have gained them a huge global following. They featured in Fatih Akın’s seminal [...]
Features
“Islam isn’t the enemy… Islam is here to stay in the UK” says actor and former gangster-turned-Muslim Martin Askew

Perceptions about Islam, the gentrification of inner London, and ‘how do you tell your gangster family that you’ve converted to Islam’ were among the questions put to film director Andrew Hulme and actor Martin Askew at a special screening of Snow in Paradise,  a film which they wrote together. Inspired by Martin’s life and shot […]

Features
Çiğdem Aslan: making her mark in the world of music

It’s been an incredible 12 months for Çiğdem Aslan. Described by the Guardian as, “one of the best British-based discoveries of the year”, she released her debut album Mortissa last October to critical acclaim in both the UK and in her native Turkey. Among her many achievements this past year was to be nominated in […]

Comedy
What would Eray & Koray do?

Our agreed rendezvous point is Burger King, Leicester Square. I’m not sure what to expect, two Fez wearing young Turks? And, having penned their first column for T-VINE on Turkish Time, will Eray & Koray (E&K) even be on time? They are, without the fezes. We go for a drink in a cool bar overlooking […]