A HUNDRED PEOPLE have attended a concert by Turkish singer Olcay Baydir, at the Rick Mix venue, organised by Art Canteen.
“She has a great voice. The music reminds me of my home country’s (Italy) folk music – Melancholic and Mediterranean,” said a joyful audience member.
The prolific singer who hit the London music scene with a memorable presence, voiced songs from her album, Neva/Harmony, in Arabic, Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish and Greek.
While her voice was filling the room, extracting the attention of the audience, a fan told Londra Gazete that, “In London, many of us do not have a platform to channel our buried emotion – our music is either joyful or club like. This is why I love Olcay: Even though I cannot understand what she says, I feel her music and the emotion in it.”
She added:“I largely sing in Turkish. However, I include all languages from Anatolia, in the aim to express all the Anatolian feelings and shared experiences.”
An Arabic member of the audience voiced great delight in crossing paths with Olcay’s music: “I never knew who she was until today. I had nothing to do and saw that an Anatolian woman was performing, so I thought I would come. I’m glad that I did – I really do feel the music, even the tracks that are in languages I do not understand,” said Rukiye, sitting on her own, close to the front row.
Olcay Bayir will be performing more often in London in the near future hoping to enrich Londoners with her unique sound from Anatolia.
