Genel

Ben Kolay Ölmem

“Two poets, Two lives, One story”
The soundtracks of the play “I Shan’t Perish Easily” (Ben Kolay Ölmem) have been prepared into an album.

Vedat Yıldırım and Cansun Küçüktürk, successful members of ethnic-protest bands such as ‘Kardeş Türküler’, ‘Bajar’ and ‘Ev Kayıtları’, are getting ready to great their fans with a new album project. The famous musicians, who have produced countless soundtracks and solo works besides their band work, have this time recorded the soundtracks of the theatre play “I Shan’t Perish Easily” (Ben Kolay Ölmem) into an album.

The play “I Shan’t Perish Easily” (Ben Kolay Ölmem), which is about the life stories of Ahmed Arif and Cemal Süreya and brings the two poets together on the same stage for the first time, was written by lawyer Ali Has in 2017. Again, with Has’s initiative, Vedat Yıldırım and Cansun Küçüktürk, who had undertook to compose the music for the play, decided to make an album of the music and songs they had composed specifically for the play. After having its world premiere at the Arcola Theatre in London in March 2019 with a sold-out three nights, the play “I Shan’t Perish Easily” (Ben Kolay Ölmem) continued its journey with its European tour and has managed to create a great deal of interest and resonance to our current day.

“I Shan’t Perish Easily” (Ben Kolay Ölmem) tells the intersecting life stories of Ahmed Arif and Cemal Süreya, considered two of the greatest writers/poets of Turkish literature. The story questions the two poets and a historical injustice by reviving the rebellious spirit they defended in their poems, despite all the pressures of lovelessness imposed on them, as a people. Although their writings are very different from each other in terms of style, the parallels in their life stories are quite surprising. Therefore, the play can be described in one sentence with the slogan “two poets, two lives, one story”.

Vedat Yıldırım, Cansun Küçüktürk and Ali Has, who worked on the album as a trio, state metaphorically that the 13-track album, which was created after dozens of meetings, meticulous teamwork, and solidarity, is now ready to be released after its ‘3 years of cooking up in the kitchen’. Many of the compositions in the album were inspired by the poems of Ahmed Arif and Cemal Süreya and the album is vocalised in the Turkish, Kurdish and Zazaki languages.

In addition, Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Şebnem Sönmez, who each recite a poem, take place as guest artists in the album. We are very happy to present the soundtrack album “I Shan’t Perish Easily” (Ben Kolay Ölmem), which intends to transcend the feelings in the play to a wider audience, with prouction and distribution of Kalan Music.