{"id":2558,"date":"2021-08-23T17:00:15","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.istanbulberlin.com\/?p=2558"},"modified":"2021-08-23T17:21:51","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T14:21:51","slug":"kisaca-ata-canani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.istanbulberlin.com\/en-de\/kisaca-ata-canani\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozan Ata Canani: \u201cI Sang of Gurbet, of Longing, Yearning, and the Work Conditions in Germany\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ozan Ata Canani, shared the story of his song \u201cDeutsche Freunde\u201d with us, which he sang in 1978 for the first time and got rediscovered and became popular after the \u201cSongs of Gastarbeiter Vol. 1<\/a>\u201d compilation. With his own words\u2026<\/h6>\n

Translated to English by Zeynep Beler.<\/p>\n

I used to play at weddings a lot. Sometimes, among the guests, there would also be Germans - neighbors or colleagues of the hosts. As there was a lull during the meal, I would sing gurbet songs in the style of the folk bards known as \u00e2\u015f\u0131k. That feeling of gurbet back then is worlds apart from what it is now. At one wedding, a German man and his wife came up to me at the end of dinner. \u201cEveryone was having a rollicking good time until you up and sang those slow folk songs, and all the people around me just listened wistfully. What were the songs about?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sing of gurbet, of longing, yearning, and the work conditions in Germany,\u201d I explained.<\/p>\n

The German guest replied, \u201cWhy not write and sing the songs in German? Then we could understand them as well.\u201d There and then I had an epiphany.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Around the same time, I saw the picture of a worker on the first page of a monthly magazine. The accompanying title was: \u201cArbeitskr\u00e4fte gerufen Menschen gekommen!\u201d [Workers summoned, people come!\u201d]<\/p>\n

That was my incentive for writing Deutsche Freunde [German Friends], which I performed for the first time in 1978.<\/p>\n