(SOUNDBITE OF NESET ERTAS SONG, "SUCUM NEDIR")
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Turkish folk singer Neset Ertas may have died more than a decade ago, but his voice lives on in his music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUCUM NEDIR")
NESET ERTAS: (Singing in Turkish).
ERDINC ECEVIT: For me, it's the music that I grew up with.
SIMON: Erdinc Ecevit is also a Turkish musician, based today in Amsterdam. He first discovered Neset Ertas through his grandfather's cassette tapes. And years later, he and his rock band, Altin Gun, are releasing an album that pays tribute to Neset Ertas that UNESCO named a National Living Human Treasure two years before he died in 2012.
ECEVIT: The way that he played, like his style, maybe like Jimmy Hendrix kind of. Like, it had this massive energy in his playing that I really liked. The melodies that he used, it's, like, simple, but powerful. Yeah, it was a big inspiration for me.
SIMON: Altin Gun's new album is called "Garip." It offers modern takes on compositions by Neset Ertas.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUCUM NEDIR")
ALTIN GUN: (Singing in Turkish).
SIMON: How do you play songs that salute Neset Ertas and work in your own signature psychedelic rock style?
ECEVIT: We try to keep the basics, and because his songs were just him and the baglama - so there's no drums or bass or guitars or whatever - it's very open for making your own, like, arrangements.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALTIN GUN SONG, "SUCUM NEDIR")
SIMON: Let me ask you about the baglama. This is a lute that's kind of considered the national instrument of Turkey, isn't it?
ECEVIT: Yeah, that's right.
SIMON: What does the instrument mean to you?
ECEVIT: It feels like a good friend of me. It sounds very cliche, but when I was 12 with my dad, we used to play at Turkish traditional evenings, like weddings and stuff, and it was also a big learning experience for me.
SIMON: What are the themes of the music that Neset wrote about?
ECEVIT: It's a lot of personal stories that he experienced in his life, like love and separation. Like, I enjoyed the most "Sucum Nedir." It's a very slow track, but it also has super-nice string arrangements. And "Neredesin Sen," the one that we released as a single, is one of my favorite songs.
SIMON: What's the song about?
ECEVIT: Something or someone that you used to have in life and that suddenly disappears, and you're just trying to find a way to get it back. "Neredesin Sen," it also means, where are you?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEREDESIN SEN")
ALTIN GUN: (Singing in Turkish).
SIMON: It's a sad song.
ECEVIT: Yeah. It's more like a question. Like, it's not very much about losing your loved one, but asking where it went wrong, maybe, or you just trying to find a solution, basically.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEREDESIN SEN")
ALTIN GUN: (Singing in Turkish).
SIMON: I am told that Neset Ertas had to stop playing music in the late 1970s.
ECEVIT: Yeah. He had an - not an injury, but, like, something on his hands that he couldn't play so well anymore. That's also the reason that he went to Germany for treatment. And I think after a year or two, he started playing again. He stayed in Germany for pretty long time, actually.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALTIN GUN SONG, "GEL YANIMA GEL")
SIMON: He had some tough times, didn't he?
ECEVIT: Yeah. I think he was also a bit homesick, probably. I can imagine that it would have been tough for him.
SIMON: And as we note, you live in the Netherlands now. Does that make you feel an even stronger connection, in a way, to the music of Neset Ertas?
ECEVIT: Sometimes because my whole family is from Turkey, but I'm born here in the Netherlands. So, yeah, I didn't have strong connection with the Netherlands and the culture.
SIMON: When you think of home, at this point in your life, it's the Netherlands or Turkey?
ECEVIT: Well, I think it's neither of them, to be honest, or maybe it's both of them. That sounds a bit more optimistic.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GEL YANIMA GEL")
ALTIN GUN: (Singing in Turkish).
SIMON: Neset Ertas - do you find something inspiring about him - his music, his life story, all of it?
ECEVIT: Yeah. He was a very inspiring person. Like, he didn't care about money or fame or anything. Like, I - he was just basically there for the people, just a very inspiring person.
SIMON: What would you like people who hear this music to feel? What do you feel when you hear the music?
ECEVIT: I feel, like, fulfillment, and I'm just proud we were able to pull it off, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BIR NAZAR EYLEDIM")
ALTIN GUN: (Singing in Turkish).
SIMON: Erdinc Ecevit and his band, Altin Gun, has a new album out. It's called "Garip." Thank you so much for being with us.
ECEVIT: Yeah. You too. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BIR NAZAR EYLEDIM")
ALTIN GUN: (Singing in Turkish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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