*This interview, conducted by Eylül Aşkın, was first published in Turkish on 13.10.2023 on the online art platform sosyeteart.com. https://sosyeteart.com/index.php/2023/10/13/gur-akad-calmadigim-album-yapmadigim-vokal-kalmadi/
Today, my guest is the esteemed guitarist Gür Akad, a talent nurtured by Turkey. Welcome.
Gür AKAD: Actually, Turkey didn't cultivate me; I cultivated myself. Turkey has tried to suppress me as much as possible because, you know, Eurovisions and whatnot. I, on the other hand, self-cultivated. Who would Turkey cultivate? Shall I tell you the guitarists and musicians who cultivated me? I started with the Beatles, talking about my mentors. Back then, there were these tube radios. My dear brother Bora, Bora Akad, lived in France. He was a man who grew up listening to the Beatles. I began by sneakily borrowing his guitar. My mentors were primarily Bora Akad, then the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Yes! Youngsters in Turkey should listen to Yes. These are my mentors.
Eylül AŞKIN: At what age did you start playing the guitar?
Gür AKAD: I started a bit late, around 14 or 15.
Eylül AŞKIN: And did you teach yourself?
Gür AKAD: Of course, of course. I used to skip school to go play the guitar at home. We had a house in Koşuyolu; I played the guitar in that small room.
Eylül AŞKIN: So, how did your transition to professional music happen?
Gür AKAD: After a while, I formed a band with a certain group of friends. Sinan Kurtul, who is currently in New York, was part of it – a band called White Cheese. We started playing together with White Cheese. In fact, just 4-5 years ago in New York, Sinan and I played old tracks from White Cheese. They were more New Wave and Reggae-style pieces. That was my first band. When Sinan returned to the USA, I stayed here. I teamed up with my friends Derya Bozkurt and Emre Tukur, with whom I had worked in White Cheese, to form another band. I named this one Klips. One day, in a place that is now the Caddebostan Show Center, at a venue called 8.5, Melih Kibar heard us. He came to our backstage and said, "I'm preparing a song for Eurovision, and I want your band." Melih Kibar introduced us to the professional scene. Later on, I began working in a studio where the late İlhan İrem, Garo Mafyan, Selçuk Başar, and others were working. That's where I met İlhan İrem. In fact, the lyrics for the song "Halley," which we competed with in Eurovision, were written by İlhan İrem. My second school is the Istanbul Youth Studio. There, I gradually started receiving professional vocal and guitar training. When you're in that environment, surrounded by professional figures, you don't realize it, but people start choosing Gür Akad for vocal and guitar roles. Around that time, an offer came from a Turkish agency for the Pepsi brand. They kept it secret. It was an ad to be shot with Tina Turner, and we did vocals together. The ad music aired in Turkey for two years. After that, there wasn't an album I didn't touch, a vocal I didn't craft. I played with Tarkan, Sezen Aksu, Barış Manço, Cem Karaca, İlhan İrem, Ajda Pekkan... Especially with Tarkan, I played in every venue imaginable, both domestically and internationally – at the Kremlin Palace, in Austria, you name it.
Eylül AŞKIN: Alright, which stage did you enjoy the most?
Gür AKAD: My favorite stage as a rock musician is the Ağaç Ev stage, formerly known as Shaft. Because I am a rock musician. After rock stages, the stages I enjoyed the most were the ones with Tarkan. We performed together for many years; we had become like brothers. Then, for some reason, I was removed from the group, and I still haven't figured that out.
Eylül AŞKIN: Currently, you are playing guitar in two separate bands. One is the Gür Akad Band, and the other is Rock Sanat.
Gür AKAD: With Rock Sanat, we're doing something entirely different. There, my dear Tunç Arkan, dear Can Güney, and I play over backing tracks, taking rock songs and transforming them into a Turkish format. For example, taking a Metallica song and turning it into Yaylanın Çimeni, or turning a Deep Purple song into Uzun İnce Bir Yol. It's a very interesting mix. Also, I delve into Zeki Müren's songs there; not many people know that side of me. It's a purely commercial project. I also have a group called Yol Arkadaşları, my friends whom I've been playing with since the time I accompanied Cem Karaca – dear Aydın Şeref, Zafer Şanlı, Mahmut Özen, Barış Göker, and the Anadolu Rock Band. Three groups in total. Besides that, you might find yourself in recordings where you don't know who is involved. Suddenly, you see Çelik, Selami Şahin. I continue in the studio in this way.
Eylül AŞKIN: Additionally, you are teaching, nurturing new guitarists...
Gür AKAD: Yes, I took a break for a while, but I started again. I'm a guitar instructor at the Piyano ve Tiyatro Akademisi owned by dear Müge Renda. In fact, you saw one of my students tonight, dear Engin Deniz. My guitar lessons are a bit unique; they play directly. Of course, they need to have played a bit before. Some are starting from scratch, but my teaching is mainly focused on masterclass, for guitarists who already play and want to build on that. I've probably been giving guitar lessons for 25, maybe 30 years. One of my first students was dear Yavuz Çetin. Demir Demirkan is also one who started playing the guitar because of me. Even dear Serdar Öztop is included in that. Right now, they all play the guitar much better than I do; I take pride in that, I like it.
Eylül AŞKIN: Today, you were watching your student with pride; I really liked it. There was joy in your eyes.
Gür AKAD: I'm always like that. That's my goal. You're watching people who are inspired by you; it's a strange thing. I want everyone to experience that feeling. Time is the most expensive thing in the world. Therefore, I see that I haven't wasted certain things, and I enjoy it a lot.
Eylül AŞKIN: What are your thoughts on today's music?
Gür AKAD: Well, it's good. It's simple, especially for people like us who have lived through many music eras. What we call "catch melody" in our music, something that captures the listener, is not as prevalent, and I'm not just talking about Turkey. Some things are catching up. There are detonations, weak harmonies – these are all things catching up. We need to improve these aspects. But globally, music has become simplified. Why, out of the blue, do people still get up when we play songs from Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin? I recently watched something. There's a group called Living Colors, a New York group, our black friends. A well-known group. They invited Steve Vai to the Brazil Rock Festival. He played a few of their songs. Then, after the Led Zeppelin song "Rock'n Roll" that we played a while ago, they went on, probably suggested by Steve Vai. It was shot with a drone. The stadium got up and turned upside down. The oldest ones in the audience were twenty-five years old. The world has forgotten melody. Now, songs are all about acrobatics. Let me tell you something more daring: the most beautiful blues ballad made in the world in the last 30 years is "Still Got The Blues," the second is "Hotel California." In terms of tempo music, it's "Smoke On The Water." I'm saying this clearly. No better compositions have been made in the world of rock music. In disco music, no song surpasses "Staying Alive." There are only a few songs left in the world like this. The computer, a fantastic thing, has killed the soul. Now, everyone is producing something at home and selling those songs. The world needs to wake up to these clever schemes.
Eylül AŞKIN: So, in your career, do you have a goal like "I couldn't do this, and I want to do that"?
Gür AKAD: It's not a goal, but I'm thankful I didn't get into mainstream music. I acted with more respect. I would have raised the bar because they couldn't do it, the new generation would listen to something else. They should thank me. They can come and listen to me once in a while.
Eylül AŞKIN: You can listen to Gür Akad every month, Thursday evenings, at Ağaç Ev where he performs. Thank you very much for taking the time with me.
Gür AKAD: You're welcome. Thank you.
Instagram: @agacevkadikoy, @gurakadoffical , @eylulaskinofficial
* This interview was conducted at Kadıköy, Ağaç Ev, and is sponsored by Ağaç Ev. I also extend my special thanks to dear Burak Ocakçı for hosting me.
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