Turkey



1. **__Contestant Bio:__** Entering the 2009 Eurovision tournament for Turkey is 23 year-old Belgian-born music artist, Hadise Açıkgöz (known as simply “Hadise” on stage). As the daughter of native Turks who relocated to Belgium, Hadise is the first non-national to represent Turkey in the Eurovision contest. In the fourth year of her professional singing and writing career, this young R&B diva works it. Contributing to lyrical compositions as well as performance of her own original material, Hadise is now working on her third studio album in addition to representing Turkey at the 2009 Eurovision Contest. Flaunting five hit singles on her debut album, it doesn’t seem too shocking that Hadise has been groomed as a regional icon. Turkey’s diva got her start at the age of 17 in the 2003 Idool (Belgium’s version of the “Idol” television show), where she was scouted by 2Brain records leading to the production of her first album “Sweat”. Throughout her career Hadise has won 2 TMF Awards 'Best Urban 2006' and 'Best Urban 2007' (Belgium), 1 AltIn Kelebek Award for 'Best new Artist 2007' from Turkey.

2. __**Song Information:**__ The song Hadise performs for the 2009 Eurovision song contest is titled “ Düm Tek Tek ” (Crazy About You) and was composed by Sinan Akçıl, known for working with Turkish pop artist İzel Çeliköz who, along with [|Reyhan Karaca] and [|Can Uğurluer], placed 12th in the 1991 Eurovision contest with their song “ [|İki Dakika] ”. Akçıl also made a contribution to the lyrics which were written in collaboration with Hadise and Belgian songwriter Stefaan Fernande. The song is performed in English and accentuates the vocal prowess which distinguishes Hadise from other competitors in the contest and won her the vote of the Turkish people to represent their country in this year’s Eurovision. A mixture of western pop rhythm merged with an adaptation of traditional sounds provides a contemporary cultural aspect into the musical composition. The underlying wind instrument provides a melody reminiscent of many middle-eastern styles, while a ‘punchy’ drum beat highlights the modern pop sound drawing from cultural percussion techniques. Through lyrical interpretation, the meaning of the term “ Düm Tek Tek” lies in it’s similarity of percussion sounds, particularly the beat of a human heart. The incorporation of this poetic onomatopoeia serves to allow the chorus to fall in time with the songs rhythmic beat, and is used to metaphorically describe a ‘pulse’ of excitement. The content of the lyrics suggests that this song is written as praise to a lover and is tinged with a sensual tone accompanied by what might be considered provocative dance choreography in terms of traditional Turkish standards in performance, which often are governed by religious interpretations.

3. **__Narrative:__** Turkiye Radyo ve Televizyon Kurumu (TRT), a Turkish broadcast station, announced that there would be an 'open call' for ideas regarding Turkey's Eurovision representative for 2009. Rather than picking the contestant solely through an internal process. like previous years, the people of Turkey could submit their ideas about who should represent them in Moscow. After weeks of feedback from the public, it was revealed that either // Hadise // or // Sebnem Ferah // would represent Turkey. TRT stated that it was considering Ferah - as it thought her rock music would be better in the competition, but it also felt that Hadise was a likable artist and would be more appealing to the European countries. In October 2008 it was announced that Hadise had been chosen by the people of Turkey to represent their country. She was given total control of the creative aspects of the contest, choosing the lyricist, composer, arranger and language of the song. Hadise put together three songs and presented them to TRT, which then selected the final song "Dum Tek Tek". The selection was revealed live during a New Year's Eve special on TRT. Turkey was the second country to have its performer and song selected before the end of the 2008 calender year. Hadise told Belgian newspapers she wanted to represent Turkey instead of Belgium in Eurovision 2209 because she has already won many awards in Belgium and also because the Eurovision Song Contest isn't as popular in Belgium anymore, whereas it is in Turkey. She also said that she preferred to represent Turkey as it was an internal selection rather than a public voting. There were rumors that Hadise chose to represent Turkey rather than Belgium, because of a secret financial deal but rumors is all they were.

4. __**Country's Eurovision History:**__ Turkey has appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty times since the country's debut in 1975. The first artist to represent Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest was Semiha Yanki who performed "Seninle Bir Dakika". Unfortunately Turkey achieved little-to-no success in the contest until placing third in 1997 for Sebnem Parker's performance of his song "Dinle". In 1978, performances were required to be in a national language, Turkey began to achieve more success in the contest after the "free language" rule was reinstated in 1999 and artists could perform in any language (English being the most popular language to perform in). Turkey finally won the contest for the first time in 2003 with a superb performance of "Everyway That I Can" by the artist Sertab Erener. Hopefully Turkey will win first place at least two more times in the near future to make up for the three times that Turkey has placed last (1975, 1983, 1987) since the original 1975 appearance. Turkey has done relatively well in the Eurovision Song Contest this millennium, considering their less-than-stellar record in the past. Turkey won first place in 2003, has had two fourth place finishes since then and has scored very well every other year, but not high enough to place. Turkey hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul in 2004, which was one of the years that Turkey won fourth place (with the song "For Real" by the artist Athena). Concurrent with Turkey's battle to win the Eurovision Song Contest is Turkey's struggle to achieve a seat in the European Union. Turkey has sought for years to enter into the European Union, but has yet to achieve success - however, Turkey is currently listed as an official candidate. It has been suggested that the Eurovision Song Contest is more about politics than it is about music, so one might wonder if Turkey's lack of success in the song contest has anything to do with the country's E.U. candidacy.