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Backstage with Tarkan
This article was published in a french magazine in February 1999. Thanks a lot to Sabrina, from France, for sharing it with us.
IN THE YEAR 2000 "I promise: my next album will be released in 2000...maybe on December 31, 1999!". Nevertheless, Tarkan has never worked on New Year's Eve. "I don't like very much that. January 1 and my birthday are days where I take a rest. Even if I never celebrate my birthday. I learned to make this day as anyother else. Before, when a friend forgot to phone me on my birthday, it drove me mad! I thought that they didn' t love me anymore. And there was a lot of people that never phoned me and who felt they had to do it this day. So, don't expect anybody to call me. My real friends, I talk to them almost every day on the phone, and not just this day in particular. Not to celebrate it avoids me to be upset like in the past". YOU HAVE THE LOOK! The less that we can say is that Tarkan sweats so much he wets his shirt! For that reason, while in Istanbul we discovered an incredible shirt collection and one was totally hallucinating! The french people won't see it but Tarkan can explain this frenzy of costume change: "As soon as I'm on stage, I sweat. I exert myself till the end, and at the same time, I can't stand to see myself sweat. At that moment, I always imagine that the audience will not like it. I tell myself: in the audience, everybody must be thinking: 'He should change his shirt'. Then I rush backstage. Sometimes, I change myself 6 or 7 times". RELAX! He repeated this to
himself a lot before his first concert in France. He was as I FELT LIKE DYING… "My very first concert was set in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, some years ago. It was my third album and a huge audience came to see what I could give on stage. It rained a lot and the concert was delayed in order to clean the stage which was an open-air ice rink. I finally went on stage and at the first tempo, before having had the time to open the mouth, I slid. I fell on my ass, microphone in hand and my face completely red! Fortunately, the audience was great; 25,000 wild persons who could have whistled at me! But they all stood up and applauded me and they were shouting me: 'Come on, we don't care, stand up, we listen to you!'. I only felt like dying. Of course, the next day all the media was talking about that. In this case, you must have a solid sense of humor!" A LITTLE BIT MORE OF BRAS! "One night, in Germany, I was singing a ballad and I was kneeling. All of a sudden, I saw a bra fall on stage, then two, then three. And soon the scene was full of all kinds and colors of underwear. Red, white, black...I didn't believe it. I didn't take it seriously by asking: "A little bit more bras, please".
 ALL NAKED!
"Before, I wore a lot of jewelry. Rings, bracelets. But I don't do it anymore. It weighed too much on my skin. Sometimes, my clothes feel like a burden to me. Once, I found myself in boxer shorts on stage without noticing that I had almost taken all my clothes off. I only stayed in my boxer shorts, my socks and my shoes. The audience liked it. The musicians and the managers were astonished. The audience screamed: "Go on! Go on!". I told myself that they were going to accuse me of driving the new generation shameless. But everybody took the thing very well. It was done very naturally and I think that they noticed it". DINNER IS READY! Before the concert, he can't swallow anything. Actually, he would devour an elephant herd when he gets out of stage. As soon as the spotlights are off, Tarkan begins by drinking a lot of water to become rehydrated. Then he takes a shower. "I sometimes get massaged after the concert to get relaxed. My whole body is exhausted. But it happens specially when I'm in tour." And after that? Dinner is ready! "All the crew goes out and has dinner together and if there are no events the next day, it's party time!". SURPRISE! "An evening I had withdrawn myself into my dressing room as usually before a concert and I had settled down on the couch. Suddenly, I felt a presence in the room. I looked everywhere around me and didn't I see anybody. Then, I heard someone crying and I noticed that there was a very young girl hidden behind the couch. During a fraction of a second, I was as afraid as her so I was surprised. I made her come out of her hiding place. I took her in my arms to comfort her and we talked about ten minutes. We took photos and she left. But it took me some time to settle after my surprise…" I'M A STUBBORN PERSON Since November 21, 1998
Tarkan can't go back to his country. How is he going to stand not
to come back to his home, maybe for a long time? "In Turkey, the military sevice lasts 18 months. Since I've been living in
the USA for 4 years, I asked, every year, my military sevice to
be postponed. Until now, I was always granted a reprieve but,
suddenly, the army has decided to harden their position and to
set an example. And this example, it's me. Nevertheless, even the
president has intervened. Everybody says that it would be a pity
to stop my carrer during 18 months and the authorities have even
spoken about my SEEN FROM THE AUDITORIUM "We wished to be able to do at least two shows on Olympia but the auditorium was all booked since November. So we decided to do another, later, in April, in Zénith of Paris." Before the concert he confided us: "I'm afraid because the audience won't understand the songs but at the same time, I know they are going to have fun with me." In fact, the public was large and specially turkish. In the auditorium which had the lights still turned on, groups of young girls rushed towards a man who looks like Tarkan like his cousin. But it was Metin Arolat, a famous turkish singer. During the show, we began to feel in the background. Tarkan was speaking almost exclusively turkish, he sometimes offered us some french words and reserving his english at Jean-Paul Gaultier who he warmly thanked for being there. When will they have JPG's stage costume version?
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One single was enough for him to
become famous in France. With "Simarik", his "kiss
song", Tarkan conquered you. And he releases a second
single, "Sikidim". We met him just before the concert
he gave at Olympia, in Paris. He spoke about his hassles, his
tastes and his plans. Welcome backstage!
nervous
as if this were his very first show. Nevertheless, Tarkan is used
to huge stages, in stadiums which can contain hundreds of
thousands of people. So he first prepares himself in a studio in
the outskirts of Paris, before going on stage, where he's
involved in light and sound check. Then comes the ritual before
every entrance on stage: "Before the concert I spend a
moment with my musicians, to create the right atmosphere. We
talk, we joke. Then I retreat into my dressing room. Nobody can
get in during 30 minutes or more. I do some vocal practices to
warm up my voice. I also drink a lot of herbal tea, on stage too
but without honey 'cause it's too sweet for the throat".
That's all? No act conspiring the spell, no mascot to stroke?
"Well, OK! I tell you: I pray! I ask Him to give me the
magic. I ask Him: 'Let me sing only for some hours'. It gives me
strength".
ambassador role out of the
country. But the army won't hear anything. So, as much as they
won't agree, I won't put back a foot in Turkey. I miss a lot
everybody, my family, my friends, my town...But I'm a stubborn
person and even if this situation continues for several years, I
won't make any move."
