USA: Turkish pop legend Sezen Aksu performs after a decade

Record ID: 828432

  • Title: USA: Turkish pop legend Sezen Aksu performs after a decade
  • Date: 7th April 2010
  • Summary: TURKISH FANS OUTSIDE CARNEGIE HALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEDA DARENDEOGLU, A SEZEN AKSU FAN, SAYING: "I think she's wonderful. She's great. She's the best in Turkey. I'm so young. I'm only 24. I've only known her for so long, but she's just wonderful. All her songs make us fall in love. We all fell in love towards her songs. We all cry when we break up. We just love her. She's great. They bleed to her songs, she's wonderful, wonderful. We love her." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MATTHEW AKDEMIR, A SEZEN AKSU FAN, SAYING: "She has a sense of humour, very nice person and also beautiful heart and also she reflects those in her songs." FANS OUTSIDE CARNEGIE HALL
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVACKXGXH2F1N1QCVE57LCGIGRVS
  • Story Text: Turkish pop legend Sezen Aksu is back on the American stage after a decade. The "First Lady of Song" was received warmly by her fans at Carnegie Hall, New York, on April 6 (Tuesday), where she held the second concert of her three stop U.S. tour.
    The Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall, where Aksu performed with her orchestra, has a capacity of about 2,800 people. Scarcely a seat was left vacant in the packed hall and a large portion of the attendees were members of the Turkish diaspora.
    Accompanying Aksu on the piano was Turkish composer Fahir Atakoglu. Aksu drew hearty applause not just for her blend of love songs, but also for her humorous banter with the audience and members of her orchestra.
    After the performance, Aksu's fans spoke enthusiastically about being able to see her perform live.
    "Sezen Aksu is the queen of Turkey. There is no one like her, who composes, writes lyrics and sings as beautiful as she does. She trained 70 percent of the pop singers of Turkey, most of them were singing backing vocals for her. She is number one, that's it," said Emra Darendeoglu, a Long Island resident who attended the performance with his wife, Seda.
    Mary Akdemir, who has been in the United States for 25 years, said that she had grown up listening to Aksu's music.
    "I remember my teenage years. It was really emotional. She is one of the best singers that I love in Istanbul. I am so happy that I came and that I watched her and listened to her music in America. I hope she comes back and that I can get a chance to listen to her here again," said Mary.
    "She has a sense of humour, very nice person and also beautiful heart and also she reflects those in her songs," added Matthew Akdemir, Mary's husband. Matthew bought tickets for the concert as a surprise for Mary, who adores Aksu.
    Before the April 6th performance in New York, Aksu held an equally well received concert in Maryland. She plans to wrap up her U.S. tour with a concert in New Jersey on April 7th.
    Aksu who has released 22 albums and 14 singles is not just successful, but a huge phenomenon in Turkey and across Europe. She is the first female Turkish artist to compose and perform her own music. She has won over 200 awards and had performed live on stage for more than four million people.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register