Homage to Nazım Hikmet

Poet, playwright and novelist Nazım Hikmet has cast a huge shadow over Turkish culture for a century. A pioneer of the avant-garde, he was also an outspoken communist, championing the common people in the manner of a modern day version of the aşık troubadours who railed against the injustices of Ottoman rule. His political views meant that he was persecuted and imprisoned by the authorities before finally dying in exile in Moscow in 1963. Ever since, left-leaning Turkish artists have drawn inspiration from him, and his poems have been set to music by the likes of Ruhi Su and Cem Karaca. It’s perhaps no surprise then that his work should also have appealed to the singer Tülay German, who fled Turkey in 1966 for self-imposed exile in Paris. Recorded in 1982, her second full-length album comprises traditional aşık songs and arrangements of Hikmet’s poetry by her close collaborator, Syrian-French musician François Rabbath. There’s a palpable sense of sorrow hanging over the whole collection, with German’s dramatic voice arising as if from deep wells of longing and regret. Rabbath’s sensitive and spare accompaniment overdubs mournfully bowed double bass with ancient saz, forging a powerful connection to the timeless heart of Anatolian folk.