Gaye Su Akyol: the artist transforming Turkey

By Pune Media On Sep 10, 2024 30 0

(Credits: Far Out / Gaye Su Akyol / Glitterbeat Records)

Mon 9 September 2024 22:00, UK

Many people go through life without fully understanding the struggles faced by others. There is often an awareness of personal challenges and, occasionally, those of people nearby, but rarely a grasp of the experiences of individuals from different backgrounds. In this context, Gaye Su Akyol stands out as one of the most significant musicians of our time—not only for her ability to transcend cultural and geographical boundaries through music but also for reframing Turkish politics and society through her distinctive psychedelic perspective.

Growing up in a culturally vibrant Istanbul meant that Akyol was exposed to a host of musical influences from an early age. After studying anthropology at university, her understanding of human culture and society grew, and she became a part of the Instanbul underground scene with music that both unsettled and intrigued her. On the surface, Akyol’s music captivated due to its blend of psychedelia, rock, and surf, but it also stunned many because of how she used metaphors as a powerful weapon, her poetic approach holding a mirror up to society in provocative and thought-provoking ways.

Many of Akyol’s lyrics challenge conventional norms while criticising social and political issues, but they also delve into the complexities of freedom and resistance, navigating the complexities of societal repression by promoting artistic freedom. Her music presents this in an overt manner, while her vocals often adopt a quiet and unassuming demeanour. In a powerfully engaging way, this makes her music appear unforgivingly bold but never overpowering, much like the insidious nature of cultural oppression itself.

Akyol’s critique of cultural identity often tackles the intersection between traditional Turkish culture and Western influences and what it means to both lose and re-establish cultural identity in today’s globalised world. Cultural heritage and adaptation are utilised in Akyol’s lyrics, alongside how these issues often coalesce with confusion about reality and fantasy. For instance, ‘İstikrarlı Hayal Hakikattir’, the title track from her 2018 album, incorporates notions of dreams versus reality and how embellishing fantasies can form a resistance against the harshness and mundanity of everyday life.

What makes Akyol’s music so endlessly intriguing is her use of modern techniques to both empower and challenge traditional, outdated notions. She embodies female empowerment while celebrating the rich diversity of Turkish traditions, with her retro-futuristic sound creating a delicate balance between the past, present, and future. Her ambitious blend of various genres also connects by exploring alienation and boldly addressing the role of women in Turkish society as she lives by her own mantra of freedom.

“In a political climate where a woman’s commitment to her passion, to falling in love, to her sexual identity is revolutionary enough, she is deeply passionate and able to express her love freely,” Akyol explained. “It would have been easy to sit in the comfort zone of the past.” As a result, her music is as freeing as exposing, appearing boundless in a single manifesto of defiance and self-expression, challenging norms and embracing the full spectrum of human experience.

Above all, however, Akyol’s element of surprise resides in the fact that nothing she addresses is surprising at all—rather than aggressively demanding change, she offers a glimpse at a world free from the shackles of its prejudiced past. Rather than utilising confrontation, she gently unveils an alternative vision where cultural and personal freedoms coexist harmoniously.

Political disillusionment is something that continues to pervade her consciousness, but alongside addressing the broader picture, Akyol remains authentic in her personal experiences. Her lyrics are pain-tinged, often like a cry for help. “Things were lost in a city we loved,” she explained. “Politically and economically we’re witnessing a country in collapse. There is a lost culture in this country, so much has gone. There are lots of memories of pain in this country, and pain is bigger than anything. I had a chance to see the beauty of the past. Now it’s going down and down, tearing at the deep beauty of this country.”

Collective action against evil, she added, is needed for a complete societal upheaval. By putting her “imagination into my music”, she can criticise the shortcomings of the past while envisioning what a better future might look like. There’s hope in reckoning and power in turning music into a chemical reaction for the ages, and Akyol is telling stories for the future, like a messenger sent from the dystopian future with a note that hastily tells people to do better.