Tülay German: Years of Fire and Cinders Film Premier
Tülay German: Years of Fire and Cinders Film Premier
In ‘Years of Fire and Cinders’ we watch Tülay German through Didem Pekün’s point of view. Pekün goes to Paris a few times to visit German. However, despite all her efforts she cannot convince German to appear in the film. But she convinces her to contribute through her voice by reading excerpts from her autobiographical book.
Preview:
15 April 2010 Thursday
Date:
21:30 – 22:30
Location
29th Istanbul Film Festival / Pera Müzesi/ Beyoğlu / Pera Museum
Brief
Director – Producer:Didem Pekün
Executive Producer – Co-Director – Cinematographer – Post-Production: Barış Doğrusöz
Tülay German was born in 1935 to a rather privileged family. Her choice of career and a relationship with a left-thinker contradicted the wishes of her parents and their relationship suffered infinitely as a consequence.
When we observe German’s life the first person that comes to mind is Erdem Buri; he was an intellectual of the time, a radio programmer, a leading left figure. With his suggestion Tülay German stopped singing jazz and she started singing her native country’s songs with new arrangements. This was the first steps of what we call today the “Anatolian Pop”.
At that period Erdem Buri translated a marxist book into Turkish. He was condemned to 15 years of prison so he decided to flee. On the evening of 15 March 1966, Tülay German left with him to Paris where she still lives.
Tülay German recorded many albums and gave many concerts in France. She signed a contract with Philips and at that period she was again in the limelight. However, the events in her home country lef her to become a more politically overt artist and she bought her contract back from Philips, and became the voice of the immigrants in France. She was again singing Turkish folk songs and songs composed with the lyrics of revolutionary poets.
German quietly quit performing in 1987. In 1993, after the death of Erdem Buri German leads a quiet life of solitude.
In ‘Years of Fire and Cinders’ we watch Tülay German through Didem Pekün’s point of view. Pekün goes to Paris a few times to visit German. However, despite all her efforts she cannot convince German to appear in the film. But she convinces her to contribute through her voice by reading excerpts from her autobiographical book.
In this documentary, Tülay German’s autobiographical book ‘The Black Box of The Plane Which Never Crashed’ is taken as a basis in the film and her music, photographs, archives are used. The film is actually telling a historical period through an artist’s musical evolution and questions the past’s relation to todays. While the film is telling us Tülay German’s story in a personal manner, at the same time tells her native country’s history since the 60s by the creative usage of the archive images.
