My Apology to Tarkan and Tarkan Fans Everywhere

In addition to receiving a comment upbraiding me for criticizing the new Tarkan CD in this post, I received this by email from Martin in Holland:

Being someone who listens to Turkish fasil music and Ottoman folk songs - I’m not surprised you didn’t like Tarkan’s album - you probably don’t like hip hop. I am a great fan of the singer and I was upset to read you say it was not good as though it was crap and give no justifcation. I have been reading your blog for sometime and I figure you to be an intelligent guy - one that would say “I don’t like it, it’s not to my taste but I can see how others might.” After all, it can’t be that bad if the single reached 15 in Germany’s charts and the album entered at 18 - can it? It is more success than any rembetiko artist is going to get.

For to you read up on Tarkan can I suggest some links?

Click here and here.

First of all, thank you for your message, Martin. I didn’t realize that my comments about Tarkan’s latest CD would be so offensive to Tarkan fans. Admittedly, instead of saying that his newest release wasn’t very good, I should have said that I didn’t like it because I found the English lyrics to be insipid and flat. I’ve always enjoyed his music in the past, but this one just didn’t do it for me.

The reason I did not say, “I don’t like it, it’s not to my taste but I can see how others might” is that I didn’t feel it needed saying. It was implied. Obviously, I know that there are people who like it. I was making a subjective statement, not an objective one, though I understand that sometimes subjective statements can appear to be objective ones. However, I’ll try to be more sensitive in the future.

Regarding Rembetika, I myself am not sure that there are any real Rembetiko artists left. There are artists that perform Rembetika, but I’m not sure that makes them Rembetiko artists. Rembetiko artists were the artists who created and invented the music. Those of us who attempt to recreate that music cannot really compare ourselves to them, no matter how talented or skilled we might be.

As for my opinion of hip hop, I’ll say only this: I’m not sure that hip hop as a genre is broad enough to encompass Tarkan, whose popularity I do not deny. However, at the risk of alienating some of my readers, I would argue that mass appeal is not necessarily a measure of quality. Nor does commercial success equal artistic merit. Perhaps I will be accused of being an elitist for saying that, but it wouldn’t be the first time. In the end, popularity means very little. It means no more in art than it does in politics. This has been amply demonstrated by George W. Bush, whose popularity (though waning as of late) is by no means an indicator of his quality as a leader.