Kadri Karahan
The poet of Istanbul
Kadri Karahan was born in İstanbul in May, 1975. He completed the primary, secondary and high school education in Istanbul then graduated from university in the field of Business Management. For a period, he was interested in theater, literature and song composition. His interviews on poetry, music and literature were featured in various websites but mainly in www.kadrikarahan.net. In addition to this, he produced some specials contents for newspapers and journals related to literature. He organized and presented some poetry nights and contributed to concert organizations and album recording process for singers who are well-known in Turkey. His first poetry book was named as “Ben Bu Filmde Kadri Karahan’ı Oynuyorum – (I am Acting as Kadri Karahan In This Movie)” was published in May 2008 then the second poetry book was named as “Akustik Şiirler – (Acoustic Poetry)”” was published in 2013. “Akustik Şiirler” includes the own poems of very famous singers in Turkey. With this feature, this book represents a very important collective work.
As well as poet identity, Kadri Karahan also took album cover photos for some precious singers. He organized his first personal photography exhibition (is named as Akustik Fotoğraflar – Acoustic Photos) in December, 2015.
Now he is still working on new book related to music industry in Turkey. He is also the manager of Turkish Photography Group and organize trip every week with photographers.
Age: 44
I live in: Istanbul/Turkey
1. What do you do for a living?
Firstly, I describe myself as music critic and writer. I am also music director in albums. I have two poetry books which were mentioned in my biography. In addition to this, I have publised my own song was named as “Karanlık Bir Drama – Bu Masalı Kim Yazdı?” in 14th of February, 2019 on Youtube.
As you know, to get some encouraging comments on your work sparks your better. So it strengthens my feeling and satisfaction for what I do.
Firstly, I would like to thank you for your beautiful words. I am nourishing my soul through the real life and happenings in it. With my poet identity, it makes my imaginary world wider than it i so it leads me to different feelings. I do not have any ambition to take photos are not took before by other photographers, but I like to entegrate the photos with my soul indeed. With this truth, I have a different style in my inside. The main inspiration of my photos is my imaginary world then my poems which are written or only imagined. The other things do not contribute to my photography.
Yes, exactly! But I do not leave anything completely to chance.
I can share the lyrics of my song (Karanlık Bir Drama).
Because I haven’t written anything I’ve felt like for a long time.
I’m coming from a very old night
Dark drama…
Just stared, a poem stared
All of them is a wall
Who was in jail?
Any person didn’t believe
Any evidence didn’t hug
A child was despitefully younger for tomorrow
Who wrote this tale?
Who wrote this tale? (Who dug this tomb?)
Who buried me alive?
Who killed me?
With your question, I have realized that I haven’t got any great romantic memory yet even I live in intensive romanticism But I am not sad, because I believe that life will offer me the most beautiful and most memorable one day.
As you guess, I have a lot In my country, there are really inspiring musicians such as Sezen Aksu, Nazan Öncel and Birsen Tezer. If I do wider with including the world, Whitney Houston is my precious. I like the all songs of these singers so much.
Yes! I believe that there’s a special bond between us.
9. Your perfect day?
Monday! Everybody feels the new week syndrome but I am not. Because I am happy with the beginning of new week.
I am doing some musical interviews with singers so with this truth, I would like to choose a singer for a talk. Adele is really very good singer and she makes my feelings upper so I would like make an interview with her. I like her musical journey, imaginary world and her energy on stage.
I like Istanbul so much. In spite of Istanbul is really crowded and tiring, it has still some beauties to discover. Besides, I like also Athens where I have found chance to visit many different places and stayed for a long time. Athens looks similar to my city and my county.
I do not remember any embrassing memory in my life. I can describe myself as clumsy
I can always knock things over, get my feet stuck somewhere. I laugh at them a lot
I have travelled to many countries in Europe, but I have not travelled to Italy yet. I’ve always heard good things. Even my uncle lives there. I wish I could come as soon as I could. A friend of mine brought a strawberry wine from a village. I couldn’t forget her taste. When I was little, my family listened Albano Romina Power songs a lot. In my eyes or in my dream there is a beautiful country far away.
My travels started very late but I travelled to many countries in a short time. The first country I went to was Paris, but I wasn’t taking pictures. Now I want to walk the streets again with this photographer identity. Prague and Stockholm were also different and exciting stops for me.
It is love! I feel like that now. Maybe it is not
I have answered this question as the same with 10th one. The same question
16. Think of a color. Think of an object of that color. Invent a short story with that object as the protagonist.
17. How were you as a child? The first memory of your childhood?
I was a quiet kid. I wanted to be a singer. I read a lot of books, and I never wanted to grow up. My childhood was in the 80s. Everything was so beautiful that every moment I remember is beautiful.
18. Have you always had an artistic soul? How does this manifest itself in everyday life?
Art always took place in my life but my education was completed with another field is not related to art. After graduation, I never did my job and I found myself somewhere in the art again.
19. 3 items you can’t give up?
Love, songs, sea, birds. These are pieces of my life.
Injustice, discrimination, inequality. And sometimes unhappy people.
A child who never grew up and still dreaming.
Music, literature and photography. A study about them finds a sound in life; so the things I produce have always returned to me as happy moments and memories. My unhappy moments were losses in life.
Black. I love black in a meaningless way.
Exactly optimistic! I don’t want pessimist people in my life.
Friendly, positive, emotional but sometimes chaos
