HÜLYA POLAT is one of Turkey's modernising popular KARADENIZ or BLACK SEA [Northern Coastal Area opposite Russia] singers. This song ' Koçari' which translates to English as something like 'Ram-like beautiful strong boy', that is, an attractive youth like the male goat or with qualities of the first Western Horoscope Sign: ARIES. These males tend to be child-like, adventurous, and sexy like the Ram. 'KOÇARİ' ['HANDSOME LAD'] LYRICS in ENGLISH The hills are grass [oh desirable Handsome Lad] The goat hits the soul [come on come on Handsome Lad] Raise the palace, you girls The heart is in the fire Oh, who's half desirable Handsome Lad Oh my darling Handsome Lad The plateaus are lined in rows I feel I fall though painted cypress trees Come here late Handsome Lad Let me see your passion Oh, who's half desirable Handsome Lad Oh my darling Handsome Lad On shapeless meadows I can not drink cold water Although two are in a universe Can not escape from you Handsome Lad Oh, who's half desirable Handsome Lad Oh my darling Handsome Lad The lyrics are tricky to translate from Turkish to English to get the effect and meaning. Also, this is a LAZ song with mythology and cultural reference to Black Sea traditions. The song appears quite traditional and obviously 'thought aloud' where some lady is deeply attracted to a young man she likens to a young Ram. She is hiding her affections outwardly, but inwardly is excited when encountering this boy and rejoicing in private rapture. However, the second verse reveals doubts that the romance will ever happen in the 'shapeless meadows' [a metephor for times of dullness when the boy is not there?]. She also expresses a sense of not being able to 'escape' and being somewhat 'addicted' to the thrill of the fantasy love affair happening in her head? But, on the other hand, sometimes dreams are nicer than reality so there is a sense that never tasting that 'cold water' may keep alive a mystic ideal of love that maybe has a more 'hot water' taste? Who knows, it is a great celebration of LAZ mythology and culture! LAZ people originallly existed as a province close to Geogrian Culture and its own LAZ language which has disappeared from the cities due to imposition of The New Turkish Language under The Turkish Republic in 1928. Thus, no other language was permitted to be spoken in Turkey to promoted Atatürk's monoculture. The LAZ, ARABIC, PERSIAN and KURDISH speakers were forbidden to speak their langauges in public. KURDISH and ARABIC have survived, unfortunately, LAZ language has been largely lost an all but remote villages. Hopefully, like WELSH in the UK, there will be a revival of LAZ language in schools and television to promote the indigenous tongue. HÜLYA POLAT was born in Rize in the BLACK SEA area. Rize is a temperate humid coastal town famous for growing the distinctive-tasting TURKISH TEA which is served black in small glasses with sugar. TEA-GROWING was a strategic part of The Turkish Republic which changed the Turkish daily drink away from imported coffee to home-grown TEA. So the KARADENIZ area was instrumental in supporting the internal market of The Republic. POLAT came from a family who are interested in music. HÜLYA, like many LAZ people , loves her own BLACK SEA folk music and wished to sing KARADENIZ songs. HÜLYA POLAT began learning LAZ lyrics and began singing on local radio. Then, in 1996, HÜLYA began recording. At that time, KARADENIZ MUSIC was regional due to geographical isolation in the North East, an insular culture but most importantly, CULTURAL SNOBBERY in the media capital: İstanbul. The accent of legendary LAZ singers like İsmail Türüt and Mustafa Topaloğlu were openly sneered at and deeply disliked in İstanbul by the 'fashionable' youth. The deep tradition and LAZ accent in Turkish seemed to deeply offend the formerly 'cosmopolitan' Ottoman Capital. However, this was to gradually change as LAZ singer DAVUT GÜLOĞLU burst into the Turkish charts with LAZ TECHNO album, 'NURCANIM' in 2000. The songs were MULTI-TRACK slick studio productions with sophisticated ORCHESTRATION creating a synthesis of LAZ FOLK with ELECTRONIC POP. Once LAZ MUSIC was 'on the map', the previous prejudice against KARADENIZ arts melted away to a rustic kind of Turkish Music that was made more 'mellow' and 'experimental'. HÜLYA POLAT'S 'KOÇARİ' was a national hit and gave way to a new 'softer' experimental blend of LAZ music. HÜLYA went on to produce a number of BLACK SEA studio albums of song that pioneered changes in STUDIO MIX [how loud and soft some instruments are on a finished recording]. The earlier LAZ MUSIC had accentuated the hard voices of the singers plus close-mic KEMENÇE [a hand held traditional bowed LAZ instrument with harsh TIMBRE] and ZURNA [a traditional OBOE with harsh tone]. POLAT also impovised with newer singing styles with original ORCHESTRATION and experimental METRE.

• published: 17 Dec 2013
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