Hayko Cepkin
Tanisma Bitti

If you like unique music and get bored with mundane artists, Hayko Cepkin is just the right choice for you.

Turkish with Armenian roots, Cepkin was born in Istanbul in 1978. From a young age, he showed a particular inclination for music, especially for the piano. After graduating from the Istanbul Devlet Konservatuvarı, he immediately started collaborating with experienced and renowned artists in Turkey, gaining interesting experiences and experimenting with various musical genres.

"Tanisma Bitti" (2007) is his second album (his first, "Sakin Olmam Lazım", dates back to 2002) and, in my opinion, his best work to date. It is a rich and unique piece, where rock, metal, gothic elements and ethnic virtuosity blend harmoniously, rendering the album a truly interesting piece that personally reminds me of the gothic and dark world of Anne Rice's vampires (remember "Interview with the Vampire", "The Queen of the Damned", and the entire "Vampire Chronicles" series?), so much so that I would describe Cepkin (also due to his very unique appearance) as a sort of "Lestat the Vampire", Anatolian version.

The album, entirely sung in Turkish, opens with a very unique introduction: a soprano chirps, but is accompanied by an almost funeral rhythm [sample]. Next is «Yalniz Kalsin» [sample], which also begins with the same rhythm but soon transforms into hard-rock where Cepkin does not shy away from performing with growl vocals. The second track is, in my opinion, perhaps the best of the entire album: «Yediyüz Yetmiş Yedi» [sample] is the successful fusion of all the elements mentioned above: oriental virtuosity, rock, melody. Cepkin's voice is powerful and pleasant, skillfully mixing aggressiveness, sensuality, and a touch of mystery; the rhythm is pressing but never deafening. The album then moves between ballads and aggressive tracks, which maintain as a common denominator the pleasant voice of the singer, who transitions from the sweetness of «Melekler» [sample] to the energetic and gothic «Siki Tutun» [sample] without ever a flaw, without ever overdoing it.

Each song is for me - who certainly am not a music expert - a small masterpiece: "Tanisma Bitti" is indeed an album hard-rock, but it is never annoying and in my opinion, it can truly appeal to anyone without ever, however, falling into banality or commercialization (in a negative sense). The musical and exotic sound of the Turkish language, moreover, helps, especially in the last track, a bonus track [sample] lasting ten minutes, in which Cepkin, through a spoken part, advises not to be afraid of dreaming. Dreams, even nightmares, are part of us, and if we fear them, we end up being imprisoned by them. Most people find this track to be at least unsettling; personally, I find it relaxing and very enjoyable, dreamlike, indeed, be it for the decidedly slow musical accompaniment, be it for Cepkin's voice which, I reiterate, I find extremely pleasant, or also for the uniqueness of the idiom.

It is a shame that, just for a change, a talented artist like Hayko Cepkin is not known in Italy: I believe he deserves the audience’s attention because I find him to be a great talent, and "Tanisma Bitti" is an excellent piece of work. But we are in Italy: if you aren't Western, you have no chance!