The musical and political journey of Kardeş Türküler [lit. “Sibling Songs”], a project that began in 1993 as part of the Boğaziçi University Folklore Club, is being made into a documentary film.
A press meeting was held at the Aynalı Geçit cultural events center in Beyoğlu within the scope of the solidarity campaign for the documentary directed by Çayan Demirel and Ayşe Çetinbaş.
Both the Surela Film and Kardeş Türküler teams were present at the meeting where a call was made for a strong solidarity campaign to complete the documentary due to the difficulties suffered by independent documentary-making in Turkey.
Bearing Witness
Speaking first at the press meeting, filmmaker Ayşe Çetinbaş stated that the project began 12 years ago under the directorship of Çayan Demirel, yet remained unfinished due to the health problems the director suffered. Initially the producer of the documentary, Çetinbaş stated that she assumed also director’s duties for the project.
During this period, the team formed a comprehensive archive by documenting Kardeş Türküler’s concerts, tours and interviews.
The documentary holds a mirror to Turkey’s multilingual cultural and political history. According to Çetinbaş, the documentary contains witness accounts from the 1993 Madımak Massacre to the memories of Hrant Dink, the Armenian journalist murdered in 2007. “This documentary is not only the story of a musical band, but also that of Turkey’s cultural transformation,” adds Çetinbaş.
Archival footage in the documentary display the power of both music and solidarity.
Tomasyan’s table
Musician Feryal Öney, a founding member of the Kardeş Türküler project, also spoke of the witness accounts Çetinbaş mentioned, referring to the dinner table set at the home of writer and publisher and her friend Yetvart Tomasyan who recently passed away on the night of 13 December 2024:
“That table was not only a place where we gathered to eat. It was a meeting point where young people who had come to study at university in Istanbul learned about Turkey on the one hand, while they shared cultural elements on the other hand. We were all quite young, most of us were still in our 20s. Tomo was someone who added depth to the conversation at the table, and thanks to his passion for archiving, often brought either an old newspaper or a now-forgotten newspaper cutting from the back room.
Hrant Dink would tell us about his hometown Malatya, while Tomo would share stories from his childhood. Hrant Dink’s multilingual songs that began in Kurdish, continued in Armenian and tied into Turkish still echo in our ears to this day. Everyone would bring home-cooked food. That dinner table became a school where culture and arts were blended with friendship. That’s where its metaphorical meaning lies.”
N. Evrim Şerifoğlu, the documentary’s campaign director, stated that the call for solidarity was an important step in overcoming the economic difficulties faced by independent art.
The campaign will continue until 24 January 2025 with the aim of collecting the 30 thousand Euros necessary to complete the final process of the documentary.
You can access detailed information regarding the documentary and supporting the campaign here.
(TY/NHRD)
Documentary team:
Directors: Çayan Demirel, Ayşe Çetinbaş
Cinematographer: Koray Kesik
Editors: Özcan Vardar, Tatlıhan Tuncel
Producers: Ayşe Çetinbaş, Gökçe İnce
Project Coordinator: Melike Ölker
Consultants: Berke Baş, Can Candan, Uğur Yeşiltepe, Somnur Vardar
