A Series of Gig Posters: Dream Gigs Illustrated
Manyetik Bant came to life 10 years ago, as a personal, musical diary with short musings about songs. In time, it grew bigger via concert and festival reviews, interviews, event guides, news about urban life, photos related to music and the city.
It became a radio show first on Açık Radyo, then on Radyo Eksen. Album reviews and articles about culture & arts found their way into national newspapers BirGün Pazar and Cumhuriyet Cumartesi.
On the occasion of Manyetik Bant’s 10th anniversary, In Hoodies and I are embarking on a project of illustrations that we’ve been planning for some time now.
“Dream Gigs Illustrated”
Dream Gigs Illustrated is a series of gig posters. Imaginary gigs that never happened, missed gigs because of time and place, gigs that are experienced first hand and have left their mark… It is up to the artist to decide. It can be a poster for David Bowie’s gig on Mars or Metallica’s gig at İnönü Stadium. Depeche Mode can play at the Maiden’s Tower, Zeki Müren and Morrissey can share the same stage, Nirvana can come to Karga, Tuğçe San can go to Haçienda, DANdadaDAN can book Wembley. The first Sex Pistols gig in Manchester or Johnny Cash’s San Quentin gig can have new posters. The possibilities are endless.
They blend blues, rock and folk music and serve their art in a tea cup. It’s like they hold the past and the future in their hands and salute them in the present. Their rebellious fire, their persistence of self-seeking, their will to exist even in the toughest conditions got under my skin.
I hear mystical tones in their music, I see references to ayahuasca in their videos, I think they belong not only to this world but also to some unknown place. Holding on to this interpretation, I got the idea that they should be in another dimension. I dreamed of a gig in a dimension called “Âlem-i Misal” which serves as a bridge among the material and spiritual world. A concert that has started at an unknown moment and that will continue forever. I would really love to attend this gig; by way of sipping from the tea cup, falling out of a trance with booms and bangs or through an unknown kind of journey.
Like most people, I have a hard time coming to terms with most people’s faults and I want to scream at this situation. Luckily, these ladies have let out the most beautiful of screams. All three of them walk tall and sing sad. I feel both sorrow and hope listening to them. I think screaming out pain does not weaken the will to fight; it rather causes revolt and dispute, fueling feelings. I share these thoughts with my internal organs and I get feedback like ‘You’re right dear, we’re bombed and still work without a pause’. To me, the Turkish bath is a place that matches up with these artists visually, culturally and sonically. It can make you say ’hot damn’ with the heat but still; I’d like to be at least a rubber, towel, soap at this concert, let alone the audience.
