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| oscillation series - sonic theories and practices #6 - Aesthetics of Failures and Hybridization in Turkish Popvantgarde |
// Talk, Presentation & Sound
// Date: 20. March 2011, 18h
The 6th session will be dedicated to: Asthetics of Failures and Hybridization in Turkish Popvantgarde
Abstract Holger Lund: The aesthetics of imperfection and hybridization – what is so interesting about Turkish funk and pop music of the 1960ies and 1970ies?
Turkish funk and pop music of the 1960ies and 1970ies is very little known outside Turkey, though its special character is worth to be considered. As the periphery is the new center today – and B-music (as Andy Votel called it) is the new A-music – people are looking more and more on phenomena of hybridization where former periphery (e.g. oriental culture) and former center (western culture) came to an intersection (Ex-B-Music regarded now as A-Music). But what is so special about Turkish funk and pop music? A specific aesthetic was developed through imperfection and hybridization. Due to the media technology used in the studios (instruments, sound and mixing), and due to their attitude towards cultural industry, their interest in following the traditions and doing experiments at the same time, Turkish musicians and producers built up something extraordinary blending western and oriental cultures in a certain way. In my lecture I will try to analyze this specific approach, basing my analysis on some characteristic listening examples.
Profile of Holger Lund:
Dr Holger Lund studied Art History and German Literature Theory at University of Stuttgart. From 2008 – 2011 he is deputy professor for Theory of Design and Media at School of Design of Pforzheim University. Since 2003 he is the co-director of fluctuating-images, association for contemporary art with new media.
Serhat Koksal: Turkish Pop: B-Side of Glocal Security (Artist Presentation)
The trendiness of Turkish pop and funk music (or other “authentic” sounds) has certain political implications. It may be asked whether this trendiness paves the way to an interesting hybridity or whether it is a means of taking a brand new oriental spa from a hamam. In other words, the sounds put into circulation in the “old center” are usually taken out of their context, and the possibilities this may bring to the “old center” can be questioned. For example, Selda is among the critics regarding the recent environment of fear created over b-type organizations, and the “far democratic” police state, the way of which is being paved by the arrest of opponents. Put into such a circulation in the “old center”, Selda, sauced with her opposition to the coup d’etat of 1980, is taken more as a dance-only “Turkish funk diva” in the glocal market, rather than current dissident. It can be asked whether it is a process of sterilizing the sounds taken out of context, and even more, whether it is a process of making these sounds an inexpensive input to the mainstream music industry, the product of which is to be consumed in the “old periphery”. Given the neo-liberal economic turn and its search for new markets, it can also be asked whether putting such like sounds into circulation in the “old center” is a liberating hybridization in a glocalizing world, or whether it is a means of manufacturing consent by co-optation, hence rendering the markets in the “old periphery” legible and secure, and even subsidizing low-cost subcontractors of the “old periphery” with, say, a dream of a Grammy. 2/5BZ, who has made audiovisual performances in 19 countries and 90 cities in the last 10 years on such like issues, will present us some of his sounds.
Profile of Serhat Koksal:
Serhat Köksal (*1968) founded the 2/5 BZ project in Istanbul. The output of this constantly evolving multimedia project takes on disparate formats: tapes, video collages, CD-ROMs, audio CDs, photocopied zines and live performances. Serhat Köksal aka 2/5 BZ is performing on the subject of Turkish pop cinema and deconstruction, exotic tourism and anti-orientalism, anti-city myths, copy culture and remakes, the ethnic market and east-west gateway clichés, critical sound art and audio-visual experimentation, using collage and cut-up techniques, found footage, field recordings and samples. Köksals work is, in short, a critical and humorous re-use of mass culture. His audiovisual performance NO Touristik NO Exotic was shown in festivals, exhibitions and clubs in 16 countries and 75 cities.
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> March 20, 2011
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