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Serdar Ateşer – İş İşten Geçer Geçmez Ordayım
‘İş İşten Geçer Geçmez Ordayım’, (I’ll Be There Just As Soon As It’s Too Late,)
Born in 1961 in İstanbul, Ateşer was a founding member / songwriter / vocalist / bass and guitar player of ‘Mozaik’, between 1982 and 1988. His first solo album, ‘Shipahoy! / A Serdar Ateşer Cassette’, recorded & reproduced in MC format at his home, was released in 1986. His first movie score was for ‘Selamsız Bandosu’ by Nesli Çölgeçen in 1987, followed by ‘Bekle Dedim Gölgeye’ by Atıf Yılmaz, a collaboration with Ayşe Tütüncü of Mozaik, which received ‘Best Film Music of the Year’ award of film critics in 1990. Ateşer also started composing jingles for TV commercials and won ‘Best Jingle of the Year 1989’ from – then the sole broadcasting TV entity in Turkey – TRT. He released his second album ‘Mütareke Yılları / Ceasefire Years’ through Piccatura records, in the same year.
Serdar Ateşer then undertook studio productions for other performers, which included five tracks on Erkan Oğur’s highly acclaimed debut album ‘Fretless’ under the label Feuer und Eis (Germany) in 1993, as well as ‘Bir Ömürlük Misafir’ through Kalan records in 1995. He also produced singer/songwriter Bülent Ortaçgil’s third album ‘Bu Şarkılar Adam Olmaz’ (Piccatura) in 1994, which includes the biggest hit of the artist to date, ‘Sensiz Olmaz’.
Ateşer released his third album ‘Avdet Seyri’ on Kalan Label. It was a diverse and unique musical effort, including two songs with lyrics by prominent poets Murathan Mungan and Lale Müldür, and made him recognized as a notable composer/producer.
On the heels of a couple of legendary live performances with his band ‘Bir Serdar Ateşer Orkestrası / A Serdar Ateşer Band’, he decided to leave İstanbul. He settled down in the North Aegean town of Ayvalık, then an off the beaten path, remote small town. He continued to make music for films, TV series and documentaries in his new ‘Studio 1901’, in a 110 year old stone building in Ayvalık, which he had renovated. Later on, Ateşer worked with & played in popular bands like ‘mor ve ötesi’ (as producer for the album ‘Güneşi Beklerken’ DMC 2013) and recorded debut albums of some new talents, namely Aynur Doğan (‘Keçe Kurdan’ 2003 – Kalan) and Ruşen Alkar (Sabır/Sebr 2015 – Kalan) and numerous other performers in Ayvalık, İzmir, Ankara and İstanbul…
He also formed bands and appeared in live performances around and out of his town, Ayvalık. One of these bands was ‘Suzinin Turtası’, which he formed with drummer Cem Aksel and guitarist Akın Eldes in 2015. In summer 2017, he formed ‘Serdar Ateşer Big Band’, made up of just three musicians: keyboard player / music producer Mesut Uçar, and fretless guitarist / oud player Onur Duygulu, (Later, bassist Gökhan Goralı – guitar player of ‘Nekropsi’- joined them for live shows in İstanbul).
Since it took Serdar Ateşer almost 20 years to finish this long awaited album, it is rightfully anticipated by the fans. According to Ateşer, the 10 tracks making up this new album is merely a small sample of the material he had been composing and recording during this lengthy span, and he is planning to release them, as successive albums, soon after ‘İş İşten Geçer Geçmez Ordayım’.
In ‘İş İşten Geçer Geçmez Ordayım’, Ateşer composed music to lyrics by Meltem Ahıska, Mehmet Budak, Murathan Mungan and Leyla Tuna, in addition to his own original work. The album also features music composed by the artist of selected passages of three long poems by Edip Cansever (1928-1986).
Studio recording sessions of this album were a collaboration with his long time musician friends Cem Aksel, Turgut Alp Bekoğlu, Sumru Ağıryürüyen and Akın Eldes, among others.
The title track ‘İş İşten Geçer Geçmez Ordayım’ was composed together with his friend, a highly acclaimed musician, İskender Paydaş, while ‘Silahlı Eleştiriler’ (with lyrics from Edip Cansever’s poem, Tragedyalar III) was composed in collaboration with drummer Cem Aksel.
Final edits and mixing was made in collaboration with his band’s keyboard player, also a producer, Mesut Uçar, during the winter of 2017/18, in his studio ‘1901’ in Ayvalık. The album was mastered by Hakan Kurşun at his studio, Quintet.
This long overdue album will be available very soon as CD /LP and online, through ‘Kalan Music’.
