Ayşe Tütüncü and Tuncer Duman: Everything will be great

 

“Everything will be great” is the name of a film directed by Ömer Vargi that got released in 1998. The movie tells the tragic-funny story of two opposite brothers. Altan (Cem Yılmaz) dreams about opening a Bar. When he is getting into a fight with some people, he runs into his brother Nuri (MazharAlanson), who he hasn’t seen for a long time. He visits his older brother at the drugstore, Nuri is working for, later on to ask him for money. Nuri doesn’t have any cash, but Altan discovers a locker with narcotic drugs in the store. One night he steals these drugs and convinces his naive brother Nuri, who is unaware of what is going on, to set off together to Bodrum to sell the narcotics. It will not take much time for them to understand how they got into trouble. Will the hope of these ‘little men’ that ‘everything will be great’ find a chance against the giant mafia-state-capital gang?

Today, ‘everything will be great” is a central slogan, which has been poured out from the mouth of a 16-year-old kid to the oppositional candidate for the municipality elections in Istanbul spring 2019. This slogan is a metaphor for the anger and resistance against injustice uniting the people from age 7 to 70 after the government had canceled the elections that it lost on March 31 with the abuse of the jurisprudence and the media

We meet Tuncer Duman and Ayşe Tütüncü, who transformed this slogan for freedom into a stunning song, in the shade of a huge walnut tree in a garden in the district Firuzağa close to Taksim Square.

Ayşe Tütüncü is an important musician who has embroidered the memories of her audience with various albums and iconic clips such as ‘a rainy April day” and “a cold spring day “, in which she deals with the sufferings in the country’s history. She has just returned from Ukraine two days ago with her quartet, where they performed at the Leopolis Jazz Festival in Aviv. In the song, “Everything will be great” Ayşe Tütüncü is playing piano and does the back vocals.

Since he founded Bengi Türkü at the end of the Eighties Tuncer Duman has always adopted a ‘concertist’ attitude. He has given hundreds of concerts all over the country either as a group performer or as a Soloist. He also trained choirs. But he’s not in favor of recording his music in any way. Because he does not want his music to be a part of the capitalist industry and to be ‘commercialized’; he never released an album as a precaution against these risks. He deeply believes in the magic of live performance.

 

Ayşe Tütüncü and Tuncer Duman, session for writer Aslı Erdoğan and academic Necmiye Alpay in front of the Bakırköy prison, 2016

For Tuncer Duman, who does the main vocal in the song, the recording of ‘Everything will be great” is his first studio recording and the first video clip he broadcasted on You Tube.

“We need to comply with time,” he says. “If you’re not in the realm of the virtual world today, you are also not present in the real world.” It seems that there will be more songs of Tuncer Duman on You Tube in the future.

It is very important to the composer and musician to underline that his song isn’t an anthem on the new elected mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoğlu. It is a manifestation of a great wave of rebellion against injustice and power abuse. It in some ways embodies Imamoglu and his function as a politician, but it more invites the people to raise their voices against the one-man regime.

The refrain “Everything will be great” is also repeated in Kurdish, Armenians and Greek to express solidarity with these still oppressed cultures and to call for the necessity of a peaceful coexistence.

Indeed, there is an overwhelming enthusiasm and hope for a better future confidence spreading from the video clip. It is a touching and infectious call for freedom, peace and equality.

We learn that the process of editing, recording and converting the video into a video clip was another example of a solidarity among the performers and producers. Hayyam studios opened their doors to the musicians without demanding a single penny. The musicians rushed into the work without any demand, as much as the shooting crew and the editing team. After the recording the mixing and mastering work lasted for days.

“For us this was an exemplary interplay of solidarity and belief in the common work. It gave people hope and pride to stand together” Tuncer Duman confirms. “But all of this wouldn’t have happened without Ayşe.”

It is enchanting to talk with the two under the tree giving shade. The conversation jumps from here to there. Politics, contemporary art, music, human relations, sociological and cultural changes, …….

Many artists no longer rely on the performances of political parties. They know that the real power in this country is in the people themselves and the unbroken courage of the creatives.

No one wants to swallow the tear gas used by the police any more to make his voice heard.

Murat Başol, The Lady in Red, Drawing about police violence during the Gezi Protests, 2013

The money spent on the third airport and the trees cut down in the northern forests roast Istanbul like an eternal fire from hell. The city is suffocating with moisture. Nevertheless, there is a lively spirit and optimism. Just like in the song …

 

Everything will be  great

To those who stole our votes
And Orchestrated lies
To those who lie
And those who laugh behind us

Everything will be great

For People who always shout: continuance
For the ones who take the orphan’s rights away
For those buttoning up their robes
Using up the law

Everything will be great

What is this fear about this continuance about
Kurd, Turk, Circassian
We embrace everyone
The peoples voices are rising up

Everything will be great

Now the citizens are going to talk
They will listen to each other
Everyone will love this
The language of peace will be ours

Everything will be great

Know your strength, trust in it
Raise your voice without fear
Know your strength, trust in it
Shoulder to shoulder, moment by moment

When you seek your rights
When you get your rights
When there is justice

Everything will be great

 

lyrics – music: tuncer duman
arrangement: ayşe tütüncü – tuncer duman

bağlama and vocals: tuncer duman
piano and back vocal: ayşe tütüncü
site flute: aysun sökmen
alto saxophone: duru tuna
cello: barış güvenenler
bas: ömer nafız
percussion and back vocal: müge terlan
kurdish back vocal: ruşen alkar

recording – mix: sinan sakızlı / hayyam studyoları
recording asistan: ceylan akçar

video: caner özgül – umut kaçar