Mikail`s Berlin Sessions feat. Petra Nachtmanova - Yiğidim Aslanım by Zülfü Livaneli

Hello everyone! For the fourth episode of "Mikail's Berlin Sessions", we have a very special guest: Petra Nachtmanova, an amazing singer and dedicated folk music researcher.

Petra's primary focus is folk music from Anatolia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, with a particular interest in how folk music develops and symbolizes identity, especially in diaspora communities. In addition to many successful projects, most of which she initiated herself, she co-produced a documentary about the "saz" (Anatolian lute) with director Stephan Talneau. Currently, she performs internationally as a solo artist and with her four-piece all-female band, "Telli Turnalar." You can find more inspiration about her at   / petra_nachtmanova  

We are thrilled to share the first-ever indoor session of our video series. After having so much fun playing and recording in the beautiful garden of my friend’s home in Neukölln, we stayed in the same neighborhood but moved to another friend's artistic and cozy living room. It was a bit challenging, as we didn’t have the usual background sounds of Berlin’s birds and ambulance sirens...

But it was the right decision given the lyrical and touching nature of the song we chose this time. "Yiğidim Aslanım" is originally a poem by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, a prominent figure in modern Turkish history—both a painter and writer. He wrote this poem for his friend Nâzım Hikmet, who was imprisoned and on a hunger strike at the time. Nâzım Hikmet was one of Turkey's most important poets, if not the most important. A revolutionary and a communist, he was repeatedly imprisoned for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life either in jail or in exile. His poetry has been translated into more than 50 languages.

Years later, internationally acclaimed musician Zülfü Livaneli composed a musical version of the poem and recorded it with Tülay German for his 1980 album Günlerimiz. The song became something of a national anthem, especially within the Turkish leftist movement, following the assassination of Turkish investigative journalist Uğur Mumcu. Thousands of people sang Yiğidim Aslanım Burada Yatıyor ("My brave one, my lion is lying here (he is dead)") at his funeral in Ankara in 1993.

Now, what you'll hear in this video is a fresh arrangement of the piece that Petra and I created, inspired by the original version sung by Tülay German. Of course, we went further and added many new elements, which you’ll notice in different sections. It was an incredible experience to arrange and perform it together. Another "first" for the series is that we prepared more for this session. But this doesn’t change the core of our "session concept," as we still record live, capturing the exact moment as always, with some open, improvisatory sections. Most importantly, every take is a new journey!

So please enjoy Petra Nachtmanova's beautiful voice and our unique version of the iconic song "Yiğidim Aslanım" in the fourth part of "Mikail's Berlin Sessions."

A huge thanks to everyone supporting this challenging project with so much love. A special shoutout to Görkem and Danai for opening their living room to us. Many thanks to Emre Nişancı for working his magic on the sound. Special thanks to Ceyhun and Cevat for the technical support, and of course, the best camera crew: Batuhan Kavlak, Ulaş Tosun and Tobias Schulze.

As you may notice the difference in this session's high-quality visuals and editing, I would like to express my deep gratitude to dear Uygar Önder Şimşek! I’m so happy to have him on board, and thank him a thousand times for such incredible work!

“Yiğidim Aslanım”
Music by Zülfü Livaneli
Lyrics/Poem by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu

Performed by
Petra Nachtmanova – Vocals
Mikail Yakut – Accordion

Director – Uygar Önder Şimşek
Camera – Ulaş Tosun, Batuhan Kavlak, Tobias Schulze
Mix – Emre Nişancı

Neukölln, 2024

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LYRICS

“Yiğidim Aslanım”
Şu sılanın ufak tefek yolları.
Ağrıdan, sızıdan tutmaz elleri.
Tepeden tırnağa şiir gülleri.
Yiğidim aslanım burda yatıyor.

Bugün efkârlıyım, açmasın güller.
Yiğidimden kara haber verirler.
Demirden döşeği taştan sedirler.
Yiğidim aslanım burda yatıyor.

Ne bir haram yedi, ne cana kıydı.
Ekmek kadar temiz, su gibi aydın.
Hiç kimse duymadan hükümler giydi.
Yiğidim aslanım burda yatıyor.

Mezar arasında harman olur mu?
On üç yıl hapiste derman kalır mı?
Azrail aç susuz canım alır mı?
Yiğidim aslanım burda yatıyor.

Azrail aç susuz canım alır mı?
Yiğidim aslanım burda yatıyor.