| About Tarkan |
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The story so far At the beginning TARKAN Tevetoglu was born on October 17, 1972 in Alzey near Frankfurt (Germany), were he lived with his parents, two brothers and three sisters. At first, his parents both worked in a factory and they lived in a rental house. But later on, his father started a succesful business as an interior decorator. Therefore, it came as a complete surprise that, when Tarkan was about 14 years old, his father suddenly decided for the family to move back to Turkey. Musical education Back in Turkey, TARKAN started his classical musical education at the Music High School in Karamursel. He worked together with famous and succesful Turkish composers. Afterwards, he contimued this musical education in Istanbul. At the age of 16, he already performed in Turkish bars and clubs to earn his pocket money. Mehmet Sogutoglu In 1993, while he and his family were still having problems adjusting to the Turkish way of life and decided to move back to Germany, TARKAN would have done the same and would now be leading an anonymous life over there, if it hadn't been for Mehmet Sogutoglu. Mehmet Sogutoglu is the owner of Istanbul Plak, one of the most succesful record companies in Turkey. A mutual friend gave him a demo cassette with Tarkan's songs and he jumped right to it. If he would have reacted a few days later, Tarkan would already have moved back to Germany and his life would have taken a complete different direction. The take-off of his career After having met Mehmet, who is his producer today, TARKAN's musical carreer started. His debut album "Yine sensin" (Again without you) was released in December 1993 and sold over 700.000 copies. The second album "Aacayipsin" (You are wonderful) was released in May 1994, and sold over 2.000.000 copies in Turkey and 700.000 copies in Europe, which hadn't been accomplished by any other Turkish pop star before. A megastar was born ! TARKAN broke sales records and rose to the top of the Turkish rock- and popscene. From then on , he couldn't take one step without media attention. His life was documented on every frontpage and every TV programme. In fact, he was the first male ever to appear on the cover of the Turkish Cosmpolitan. Finally, he had the succes he always dreamed of, but this huge succes also had its price. When he couldn't take a step without a bodyguard and the paparazzies following him around, Tarkan decided to move to the United States at the end of 1994. New York TARKAN studied for two years at the Baruch College in New York. As a result, he speaks English fluently. Ahmet Ertegun (who has Turkish roots also), who is the founder of the giant record company Atlantic Records, is eager to support Tarkan in becoming the first Turkish top act in America. He heard Tarkan perform in Istanbul, and immediately knew that he could reach the top in America too. This is also one of the reasons Tarkan moved to New York. Next summer he will probably release his first album in English. Taking over Europe In the mean time, TARKAN was taking over Europe. In 1995 he toured in 26 Turkish cities and managed to rush over 800.000 fans to the stadiums. At the end of that year he did some concerts in Western Europe and he over here he also found a large circle of fans. In March 1997 he toured together with Sezen Aksu, who is the Queen of Pop in Turkey, and with whom Tarkan has written some songs (e.g. Simarik, Sikidum). After a break of three years Tarkan released his third album "Olurum Sana" (I am crazy about your) in July 1997, which was followed by a giant European tour. Locations like London (Hippodrome), Paris (Bataclan), Berlin (Arena) were just some of the locations that Tarkan easily filled. Before releasing the album fans bombarded his record company and the media with questions about release date and his new image. There were over 1.5 million reservations and the album later sold over 3 million copies in Turkey alone. When the single "Simarik" (Spoiled) was released, it became a giant hit all over Europe. It reached the Top 3 in France, in Belgium it even raised no. 1 and in Germany it is currently climbing the charts. For the European market, the record company released a compilation album simply called "Tarkan", which contained basically the same songs as the "Olurum Sana"-album, but with some additional songs from the "Aacayipsin"-album, e.g. Sikidim, Don Bebegim, Gul Doktum Yollarina. Tarkan a deserter ? November 1998, Turkish newspapers reported that TARKAN could be stripped of his citizenship, because he failed to show up for military service. An 18-month-service is compulsory for every Turkish male. Tarkan received his marching order November '98. Due to his current succes in Western Europe, however, Tarkan refused to start his service. Efforts to make him an honorary cultural ambassador for Turkey and thus postpone his military service, failed. The case attracted wide attention in Turkey. Tarkan is considered a deserter. If he returned to Turkey within three months, he would have been arrested and sent to a military tribunal. If he stayed abroad (like he did, he's still living in New York) he could be stripped of his Turkish citizenship. According to the latest news, he is stripped of his citizenship in April 1999. My personal opinion on Tarkan I haven't been a fan of his for very long. I first heard of him when Simarik became a big hit over here. I bought his latest CD Tarkan, and during my recent visit to Turkey I bought Yine Sensiz, Aacayipsin and Olurum Sana. And in a few month's time, I've grown to like his music very much. Although I don't understand much about the lyrics, you can grasp the feelings he is singing about just by the intonation in his voice. But, nevertheless, I do want to know what his songs are about, so I started searching the Internet for translations of his lyrics. This wasn't very easy, but at last I found some people willing to translate some songs. The results you can find elsewhere in this site. On March 27, I went to see him concert in Brussels, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Of course I already knew he has great songs. I think his music is the perfect balance between Western pop music and Turkish influences. But besides that he appears to be an excellent performer. He has a great , sensual voice, which always stays perfectly in tune. But appearances also count, right ? He's a superb dancer and of course, I have to admit, he is strikingly goodlooking. I've seen dozens of artists before, and in my eyes, Tarkan is one of the best, if not THE best performer I have ever seen. In fact, I liked the concert so much I wanted to go see him again, and that was also the moment I decided to do this webpage. So I went to his concert again in Rotterdam (on April 12), and on Friday (April 16) I went to see him for the third time in Duisburg. I hope he will soon release an English album, so I can understand all the lyrics and enjoy his music even more. And about the army: I think it would really be a waste of talent to force him to do his military service. Since his current succes in Western Europe, I think he should be able to strike the iron while it's hot, and get the opportunity to become a world star. I really hope Tarkan will provide us with his wonderful music for many years to come. |
