Issue 20 - In Conversation with .. 9!

Has your work with “A Song For You”
changed your approach to your solo-music?
Maybe? I’d say, especially in the realm of
soul and – in the broadest sense – gospel
music, which has always been a part of me.
I feel those genres are actively shaping my
life again. In terms of production, I've already
gone so far in a certain direction, I have now
found my own style. I have to say that I could
imagine incorporating choirs into my solo
music, though.
A couple of months ago you released a track
called “Still (Sped up Version)”. How does
it feel releasing music where you’re actively
changing your voice or in this case also the
speed of the track?
I grew up with this strong belief that the
voice has to sound natural. If you tune your
voice, you're cheating. But now, I've come to
understand that I love tuning and modifying my
voice. For me, it's a sense of freedom, and it
allows me to be Evîn, but I can also go beyond
that, you know? For example, in my track “best
friend”, not a second of it was my real voice.
I loved it, and I wanted it to sound like that. It
has been a beautiful experience for me.
We’ve talked about this privately before but
I was wondering if you could tell me about
fusing your cultural background with your
music. What does that look like for you?
I'm cautious – or I try to be – because it's
a long process to bring these two worlds
together. I was born and raised here in
Germany, but I also feel so connected to my
parents’ experiences in Turkey when they were
involved in different protests. I feel I've been
there with them, it's a significant part of me.
I'm trying to understand how I can incorporate
those emotions into my music.
My father used to sing a lot, he had a beautiful
voice. It's quite a challenging process to merge
these worlds, which might sound cryptic. I listen
to a lot of Kurdish music, it inspires me, and
I draw small elements from it. I've set a goal to
bring these worlds together even more in my
debut album.
How are you planning on doing that?
I would definitely do it in my own way, but
I would work a lot with sampling as well as
melodies and language. I'm learning Kurdish
right now. We mostly spoke Turkish at home,
which makes it an important language for me,
but Kurdish, of course, takes precedence.
My parents come from a very leftist scene
in Turkey, and they introduced me to some
amazing artists, such as Fikret Kızılok and Cem
Karaca. They have also influenced me greatly.
I read their lyrics, and I see that it's also a part
of what my parents lived.
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