gelincik tarlası / poppyfield

Written as a commemoration of the Battle of Gallipoli centennial,

gelincik tarlası/poppyfield is a micro song cycle consisting of ten

miniature songs. The songs are based on various, multilingual recordings

of the infamous Çanakkale Türküsü, or Ballad of Çanakkale. The piece

focuses on a single line from the ballad: “Gençliğim eyvah/Alas, my

youth”. Various “moments” are borrowed from the recordings of this line,

and musical material is derived from them via a custom-written software.

The soundscape can be thought as imaginary sounds heard by a young

soldier -his origin insignificant- on the eve of the battle: he cannot

sleep since he predicts his death; the only thing he can do is to lament

for his lost youth.
gelincik tarlası/poppyfield is the first part of the Anatolia: Spring of

1915 duology.