Symphonic Poetry Album 'Bahar' Sells 100,000 in First Week
The album "Bahar" (Spring), which sets poetry by Fethullah Gülen to compositions by Garo Mafyan in a symphonic pop style, has sold 100,000 copies in its first week, the album's producers announced last week.
The album's producer and participating international music artists -- Mafyan, Reyhan Karaca, Murat Göğebakan and Erhan Güleryüz, along with Kazakh, Tatar, Kyrgyz and Turkmen artists -- were present at a press conference at Ankara's Metropolitan Hotel. Producer Yusuf Kulaksiz of Dünya Prodüksiyon described the process behind the album, saying: "First we asked for permission from Gülen to use his poems, and he welcomed the idea with respect. He listened to the recordings afterwards. Mr. Gülen is very humble about his poetry. He was the same when we asked him for permission. And then he did not say anything negative when he listened to what we did. He really respects it."
Kulaksiz linked the album's success to its contributing artists. "We worked on this album for 14 months. When we decided on the project, Mafyan immediately came to our minds, and he said he would be more than happy to take part. The end product 'Bahar' is at an academic level and very successful. I believe it will reach an international audience," he noted.
The artists had worked voluntarily of the project, receiving no fee, Kulaksiz added, also revealing that the artists will however receive royalties from album sales. The rest of the money made will be spent on new projects.
The artists were asked how they had coped with criticism leveled at them for their participation in the project. Mafyan answered first: "I was happy to take part in the project and it has been one of the finest pleasures of my life. I have no doubt over the quality of this album and I do not care about any criticism for participating in it." Meanwhile singer Göğebakan said, "I took part to define myself." Güleryüz replied by saying, "I accepted without thinking twice when Garo Mafyan came to me."
The artists stated that although they have always interpreted songs about human love, they were not unfamiliar with songs of divine love. They added that they are going to include the songs they performed for "Bahar" on their next albums and expressed their pleasure at being part of the project.
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