Utangaç Utangaç Rock Yapıyor

Utangaç Utangaç Rock Yapıyor

Milliyet — 28 December 1996

This is one of the earliest surviving interviews with Teoman, published shortly before the release of his first album. At the time, he was still largely unknown to the general public. The article even introduces him with a prediction: readers may not know Teoman yet, but they soon will.

The interview captures a musician at the moment when a long underground career was about to become a public one.

Before Teoman Became Teoman

Teoman was 29 years old and a graduate of the Sociology Department at Boğaziçi University. He was continuing his master’s studies and had already spent around ten years playing music with different groups.

His musical direction had also changed over time. He had previously played hard rock, but by this period he described his music as closer to soft rock.

Before releasing a solo album, he had performed at important Istanbul venues such as Kemancı and Hayal Kahvesi. He had wanted to make his own album for years, and by the end of 1996 that project was finally close to completion.

The First Album

The album was being completed in Rıza Erekli’s studio.

Teoman originally imagined something much smaller and more acoustic. He considered recording an album largely with his own resources and reaching a relatively limited audience, mentioning Bülent Ortaçgil as a reference point.

As production developed, however, the project changed. The resulting album became more ambitious and capable of reaching a much wider audience.

Several musicians who would become important names in Turkish rock were involved. Şebnem Ferah and Özlem Tekin provided vocals, while Yavuz Çetin, Barlas and Alper Erinç were among the musicians working on the record.

Looking back, this makes the interview an interesting document not only of Teoman’s career but also of the Turkish rock scene of the mid-1990s.

Words Before Music

One of the clearest characteristics of the young Teoman is already visible here: he gives unusual importance to lyrics.

He says:

“Kız arkadaşıma söyleyemediğim sözleri şarkı sözü olarak da söylemem.”

The statement suggests that songwriting, for him, was not simply a more dramatic version of ordinary confession. His songs were already connected with literature, distance and indirect expression.

Instead of filling his lyrics only with conventional romantic language, he refers to writers he admires. The article mentions Louis Aragon and his famous idea that there is no happy love, which Teoman transforms into the idea that there is no happy ending.

This relationship between literature and songwriting would remain visible throughout his later career.

Control

Another striking feature appears very early: Teoman wants complete control over his work.

He consciously chooses to appear as a solo artist rather than as the member of a democratic band. The songs are his, the project is his, and he wants the final decisions to remain his.

He openly admits that this position may seem selfish.

This is especially interesting in retrospect. Long before becoming one of the dominant singer-songwriters of Turkish rock, Teoman already had a very clear understanding of authorship. Music was not merely something he performed; it was something whose identity he wanted to control.

Rock, Pop and Audience

The interview also records an early version of Teoman’s complicated relationship with popular music.

He is suspicious of pop because, in his view, music designed to reach everyone risks losing some of its intensity. He contrasts this with the kind of songs he wants to make: songs that do not begin with the goal of pleasing the largest possible audience.

There is an obvious irony here.

Within only a few years, Teoman himself would become one of the most popular musicians in Turkey.

This makes the interview particularly valuable. We are reading Teoman before he had to reconcile artistic independence with mass popularity. Later interviews would show a much more complex relationship with fame, commercial success and popular culture.

Why This Interview Matters

The importance of this short interview comes from its timing.

The Teoman presented here is not yet the established rock star of Onyedi, Gönülçelen or Renkli Rüyalar Oteli. He is a musician finishing his first solo album after years of playing in bands and clubs.

Yet several qualities associated with his later public identity are already present:

• a strong concern with lyrics,
• an interest in literature,
• emotional reserve,
• distrust of conventional pop,
• a desire for artistic control,
• confidence in his own work,
• and an uneasy relationship with the idea of reaching a large audience.

Later Teoman interviews can therefore be compared against this one.

It provides something close to a baseline Teoman: the musician immediately before fame changed the conditions around him.

Source Note

Original publication: Milliyet
Date: 28 December 1996
Original title: Utangaç utangaç rock yapıyor
Interviewer: Not identified on the surviving Milliyet page
Verification: Primary source available
Confidence: High

The article remains available in Milliyet’s online archive. A 2013 Teoman interview archive also preserves a copy attributed to Milliyet, and its text corresponds closely with the surviving original.

This page is an archival summary and commentary. It does not reproduce the original interview in full.