My son and I are getting ready for our big move to Texas. While cleaning the house and packing some closets with books and old magazines, I found an interesting piece in an old newspaper that I obviously have kept for some decades. It dates May 1986. And it's an article about me winning a prize for the best French essay, organized by the prestigious institute Alliance Francaise. I never intended to participate to the Contest but my French teacher, Mrs. Staal, insisted, and I won! More than 1400 students from Holland participated and thousands of others from all over Europe. I remember some details about the essay but I definitely have to make sure that I find it...It should be somewhere..
This winning essay shows my passion and probably can be seen as the start of my writing career! But there is another thing which is so much more important here. What happened back then also says something about a good teacher. Actually my teacher, Mrs. Staal believed in me and discovered my talent. She persuaded and signed me in when I had not enough self esteem to put up my finger when she asked the class who wanted to face the challenge of writing an essay in French. She looked at me right away and was surprised that I kept quiet. Yes, I loved studying and talking French, but never thought I could write essays. Then she said: "Well, Senay, I think you can do this easily so I am signing you in."
I was one of her best students (in French) but Mrs. Staal saw also another talent in me. She pushed me in the right direction and ever since, when I write, I think about her. For me, Mrs. Staal has become more than a teacher in French language. She is one of the people who gave direction to the life I'm living now.
Great teachers who recognize talent in students are priceless!
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Vyjanthi and the princess of Oman
Yesterday, the whole world celebrated International Women's Day. It sounds rather ridiculous to celebrate a day especially for women but as long as it's necessary we will do that. According to a survey of the Virginia Commonwealth University it will take 580 years before there is gender equality in top managerial positions. Yes, we have a long way to go... Not in executive and leading positions but in almost every level.
Yesterday, I watched a very sad documentary 'No country for young girls?' about a young Indian woman who has to choose - stay with a husband who doesn't want female children, or make it on her own?
Twenty-seven year old Vyjanthi, already mother to one 3-year old girl, was forced by her husband and in-laws to have a scan to determine the sex of the foetus, when she became pregnant again. Told she was carrying a girl, they tried to pressure her to have an abortion, and after a major argument she fled to her parents' home. But she felt bad, went back to her husband, got pregnant again, and the same thing happened all over again.
Now she's living with her parents, with two young daughters - and undecided whether she can make it on her own, or will have to go back to her husband again. Sex-selective abortion is illegal in India, but so widespread that there are many more boys than girls, especially in India's more prosperous states. Vyjanthi wants to know if things are really as bad for girls in the rest of India as in her own neighborhood. Isn't India now one of the world's booming economies, thanks to its embrace of globalization?
Life takes Vyjanthi on a journey through India, and films as she makes a disturbing discovery. Just because a country's becoming richer, doesn't actually mean life's going to be better for most people. In fact the status of women in India is falling behind that of women in many other countries, even in South Asia, and the newly prosperous middle class are particularly likely to abort female foetuses.
Will Vyjanthi decide that India can offer her and her daughters a fair and prosperous future on their own? Or will she decide that India is no country for young girls, and go back to her husband?
Heartbreaking documentary, but very inspiring to see that women are 'searching' for what they want for themselves. Vyjanti was my hero.
Vyjanthi's journey ended in Bangalore, the place where I have met another, of a very different level, woman a couple of years ago, the Omani princess Susan al Said. She is an empowering woman who fights for women's rights in Oman. American by birth, Omanese and muslim by marriage, she also owns a galery in Muscat. We had a nice and long chat after her speech at this woman's conference in Bangalore. She was very curious about my magazine and took with her three copies of SEN, folded in a veil, because it contented 'obscene' images (according to Omanese Arab standards). She said it could take decades before something like SEN could be possible in her country; if ever possible.
Vyjanthi and princess Susan, both so different women with a totally different background, and yet so close to each other, both trying to balance out stereotypes. That's so inspiring! I wish everybody a happy International Women's Day!
Yesterday, I watched a very sad documentary 'No country for young girls?' about a young Indian woman who has to choose - stay with a husband who doesn't want female children, or make it on her own?
Twenty-seven year old Vyjanthi, already mother to one 3-year old girl, was forced by her husband and in-laws to have a scan to determine the sex of the foetus, when she became pregnant again. Told she was carrying a girl, they tried to pressure her to have an abortion, and after a major argument she fled to her parents' home. But she felt bad, went back to her husband, got pregnant again, and the same thing happened all over again.
Now she's living with her parents, with two young daughters - and undecided whether she can make it on her own, or will have to go back to her husband again. Sex-selective abortion is illegal in India, but so widespread that there are many more boys than girls, especially in India's more prosperous states. Vyjanthi wants to know if things are really as bad for girls in the rest of India as in her own neighborhood. Isn't India now one of the world's booming economies, thanks to its embrace of globalization?
Life takes Vyjanthi on a journey through India, and films as she makes a disturbing discovery. Just because a country's becoming richer, doesn't actually mean life's going to be better for most people. In fact the status of women in India is falling behind that of women in many other countries, even in South Asia, and the newly prosperous middle class are particularly likely to abort female foetuses.
Will Vyjanthi decide that India can offer her and her daughters a fair and prosperous future on their own? Or will she decide that India is no country for young girls, and go back to her husband?
Heartbreaking documentary, but very inspiring to see that women are 'searching' for what they want for themselves. Vyjanti was my hero.
Vyjanthi's journey ended in Bangalore, the place where I have met another, of a very different level, woman a couple of years ago, the Omani princess Susan al Said. She is an empowering woman who fights for women's rights in Oman. American by birth, Omanese and muslim by marriage, she also owns a galery in Muscat. We had a nice and long chat after her speech at this woman's conference in Bangalore. She was very curious about my magazine and took with her three copies of SEN, folded in a veil, because it contented 'obscene' images (according to Omanese Arab standards). She said it could take decades before something like SEN could be possible in her country; if ever possible.
Vyjanthi and princess Susan, both so different women with a totally different background, and yet so close to each other, both trying to balance out stereotypes. That's so inspiring! I wish everybody a happy International Women's Day!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Literature and Islamophobia
I have been invited to speak at the LSE ‘Space for Thought’ Literary Festival on Literature and Islamophobia.
The event will be held at LSE (London School of Economics) today (19th Feb from 630pm to 8pm). The panel will also feature one Dutch Muslim writer Naema Tahir and a British Muslim writer Shelina Zahra Janmohamed. We will all comment on the subject - Literature and Islamophobia - from our perspectives of multicultural origin based in writers.
This was the blurb about the event:
There are few places in Europe in which the voices of multiculturalism and Islamophobia have clashed more forcefully than in the Netherlands, often in the most dramatic ways. To name just a few, Pim Fortuyn, Theo Van Gogh, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and most recently Geert Wilders have been very much in the international press over the last decade. In the UK we are now 14 years on from the publication of the influential Runnymede Trust report Islamophobia: a Challenge for us All which sets out an agenda for overcoming social exclusion of British Muslims. Fiction writers from Muslim backgrounds have played an important role in the debate about multiculturalism and Islamophobia. We will explore how they see their art as a tool to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and political discourse about integration.
Our panel consists of Şenay Özdemir and Naema Tahir, two women Muslim writers from the Netherlands, and Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, a woman Muslim writer from North London, who will talk about what motivates their art as women Muslim writers in respectively the Netherlands and the UK.
I am looking forward to it, as I really don't know how this topic is being discussed in Great Britain. I don't know what to expect; on one hand I think the debate must be the same (as British PM Cameron functioning as a parrot to what Angela Merkel and Geert Wilders have said about 'the multicultural society' having failed), on the other hand I expect that the British muslim society reacts on islamophobia very differently as they have been in Britain for a longer time and are higher
educated (on average) than Dutch muslims.
We'll see..I'm definitely going to listen what Naema and Shelina have to say, and of course looking forward to the questions of the audience. Because that tells so much more than anything.. What do people want to know? What are they looking for? And who are they? I'll hopefully let you know soon...Now, I have to get ready and do some homework before calling a London taxi! Ciao!
The event will be held at LSE (London School of Economics) today (19th Feb from 630pm to 8pm). The panel will also feature one Dutch Muslim writer Naema Tahir and a British Muslim writer Shelina Zahra Janmohamed. We will all comment on the subject - Literature and Islamophobia - from our perspectives of multicultural origin based in writers.
This was the blurb about the event:
There are few places in Europe in which the voices of multiculturalism and Islamophobia have clashed more forcefully than in the Netherlands, often in the most dramatic ways. To name just a few, Pim Fortuyn, Theo Van Gogh, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and most recently Geert Wilders have been very much in the international press over the last decade. In the UK we are now 14 years on from the publication of the influential Runnymede Trust report Islamophobia: a Challenge for us All which sets out an agenda for overcoming social exclusion of British Muslims. Fiction writers from Muslim backgrounds have played an important role in the debate about multiculturalism and Islamophobia. We will explore how they see their art as a tool to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and political discourse about integration.
Our panel consists of Şenay Özdemir and Naema Tahir, two women Muslim writers from the Netherlands, and Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, a woman Muslim writer from North London, who will talk about what motivates their art as women Muslim writers in respectively the Netherlands and the UK.
I am looking forward to it, as I really don't know how this topic is being discussed in Great Britain. I don't know what to expect; on one hand I think the debate must be the same (as British PM Cameron functioning as a parrot to what Angela Merkel and Geert Wilders have said about 'the multicultural society' having failed), on the other hand I expect that the British muslim society reacts on islamophobia very differently as they have been in Britain for a longer time and are higher
educated (on average) than Dutch muslims.
We'll see..I'm definitely going to listen what Naema and Shelina have to say, and of course looking forward to the questions of the audience. Because that tells so much more than anything.. What do people want to know? What are they looking for? And who are they? I'll hopefully let you know soon...Now, I have to get ready and do some homework before calling a London taxi! Ciao!
Friday, February 11, 2011
10 Tips To Becoming Fearless In Love, Work & Life
I had bought her book at BookPeople just after I had had my first class at the School for Journalism. I had asked my students to give a list of the Top 5 news Web Sites they visited every day. One of them was The Huffington Post. Until then, I had never heard of this site (I'm still ashamed of that, but please understand that Huffpost is still not very popular in Europe). But after my students stories about Huffington, I became so curious about this woman that I went to the bookstore to get her books. I bought On Becoming Fearless..In Love, Work and Life.
It's a wonderful, empowering and very well written book that every ambitious woman should read.
I want to share Arianna Huffington’s Top 10 Tips to becoming fearless:
1. Be true to yourself. Constantly looking over your shoulder for approval means you’ll never find it. What’s more, you greatly increase your chances of walking into a wall or falling into a ditch – not to mention losing yourself in the process.
2. Turn down the volume of your inner critic. Everyone has one: the obnoxious roommate in your head, always there with the critical, selfdoubting comment. But that doesn’t mean you have to listen. When the negative judgments start to blare, hit the off switch or drown them out with your iPod.
3. Look past the glass ceiling to endless opportunity. Preoccupation with impediments allows us to climb only so high. Keep your mind open to new adventures and you’ll surpass every expectation.
4. Use the mirror to make sure your lipstick isn’t smudged, not to judge your value as a person.
5. Stop comparing yourself to others – it’s a no-win game. And especially comparing yourself to supermodels, who don’t even look like the perfectly lit and airbrushed supermodels we usually see in magazines.
6. Get enough sleep. It’s next to impossible to be fearless – or to be your best self – if you are sleep deprived. A good pillow is a vital addition to any beauty regime.
7. Slip to an air of self-assurance. Fearlessness is sexy. So is confidence.
8. Run, swim, bike, hike, do yoga, or hit the gym. And fill your lungs with fresh air. Never forget – you can go weeks without food, days without water, but only mere minutes without breathing.
9. Be assertive in love. Know what you want out of a relationship and have the courage to express yourself to get it. And if you don’t get it – and if the other person can’t even handle the mere expression of your needs – be strong enough to walk away.
10. Always remember: True fearlessness comes from a deep and complete acceptance of ourselves – not from what we wear, or how we look or what we do, or what we accomplish.
I am working on points 1, 2, 4, 5 and sometimes 9. I wish myself and all of you who want to become fearless good luck!
It's a wonderful, empowering and very well written book that every ambitious woman should read.
I want to share Arianna Huffington’s Top 10 Tips to becoming fearless:
1. Be true to yourself. Constantly looking over your shoulder for approval means you’ll never find it. What’s more, you greatly increase your chances of walking into a wall or falling into a ditch – not to mention losing yourself in the process.
2. Turn down the volume of your inner critic. Everyone has one: the obnoxious roommate in your head, always there with the critical, selfdoubting comment. But that doesn’t mean you have to listen. When the negative judgments start to blare, hit the off switch or drown them out with your iPod.
3. Look past the glass ceiling to endless opportunity. Preoccupation with impediments allows us to climb only so high. Keep your mind open to new adventures and you’ll surpass every expectation.
4. Use the mirror to make sure your lipstick isn’t smudged, not to judge your value as a person.
5. Stop comparing yourself to others – it’s a no-win game. And especially comparing yourself to supermodels, who don’t even look like the perfectly lit and airbrushed supermodels we usually see in magazines.
6. Get enough sleep. It’s next to impossible to be fearless – or to be your best self – if you are sleep deprived. A good pillow is a vital addition to any beauty regime.
7. Slip to an air of self-assurance. Fearlessness is sexy. So is confidence.
8. Run, swim, bike, hike, do yoga, or hit the gym. And fill your lungs with fresh air. Never forget – you can go weeks without food, days without water, but only mere minutes without breathing.
9. Be assertive in love. Know what you want out of a relationship and have the courage to express yourself to get it. And if you don’t get it – and if the other person can’t even handle the mere expression of your needs – be strong enough to walk away.
10. Always remember: True fearlessness comes from a deep and complete acceptance of ourselves – not from what we wear, or how we look or what we do, or what we accomplish.
I am working on points 1, 2, 4, 5 and sometimes 9. I wish myself and all of you who want to become fearless good luck!
Monday, February 07, 2011
Arianna Huffington
I realized how encouraged I was the moment I heard the news about AOL merging with the Huffington Post. If there is one woman who inspires me at this moment, then it’s Huffpost’s founder and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington.
She is a fascinating woman. As the author of the book ‘On Becoming Fearless ... in Love, Work and Life.’ she already has illustrated multiple times to be fearless. The first time was when she left Athens, Greece, where she was born, to go to England in order to study at the Cambridge University. Many people want to study internationally, but let’s face it, there are still far too few women who take up that challenge.
The second time she was fearless was when she left her then-boyfriend, the famous Times-journalist, Bernard Levin. She broke off the relationship and moved to the United States, because of Levin's refusal to get married. I feel pretty certain that Arianna NOW thinks it was probably the best thing she did back then by leaving him, but we women know how difficult it is to end a relationship, and certainly with someone you say was the love of your life.
The third time she showed her fearless power- no, that was not the time when she married a millionaire- was when she found Huffington Post and made it the most successful blogging-site in the world, and became a millionaire herself. Maybe the men in her life partially contributed to her success, - of course everything and everybody in her life probably influenced her decisions on some levels - but it always makes me happy when women rise up, and show leadership by really changing the concept of the news industry. My fascination is more as I also created a different model in the media: a magazine for Mediterranean women.
As Forbes ranked Arianna one of the 12th most influential women in the media, she is a role model for we women journalists, and for women in general, to be fearless and really go for our dreams. She has defined how she can be a leader, and not be let a man or a past career move keep her from reaching her goals. It is inspiring to read stories about women who not only SAY what they want to do, but to act and actually DO those dreams.
I remember her saying in one of the interviews about her book - on how you become your own leader - by looking in the mirror, and you should stop searching for the knight on the white horse who is going to “save” you; And she is right, that only results in your being disappointed again and again.
Her life is the best example for the power of a woman. She divorced from a wealthy man (after he made it clear that he was more attracted to his own sex), she became an influential and wealthy woman in her own right. Her looks and name may mislead you, with her sexy business suits, blond hair and “enhanced” face; she looks like a typical American businesswoman. But then you discover she is not American at all, but conquered America, she becomes a role model for every one of us in the world.
I hope the story of Arianna will inspire more women to pursue their goals, and to become their own leaders.
She is a fascinating woman. As the author of the book ‘On Becoming Fearless ... in Love, Work and Life.’ she already has illustrated multiple times to be fearless. The first time was when she left Athens, Greece, where she was born, to go to England in order to study at the Cambridge University. Many people want to study internationally, but let’s face it, there are still far too few women who take up that challenge.
The second time she was fearless was when she left her then-boyfriend, the famous Times-journalist, Bernard Levin. She broke off the relationship and moved to the United States, because of Levin's refusal to get married. I feel pretty certain that Arianna NOW thinks it was probably the best thing she did back then by leaving him, but we women know how difficult it is to end a relationship, and certainly with someone you say was the love of your life.
The third time she showed her fearless power- no, that was not the time when she married a millionaire- was when she found Huffington Post and made it the most successful blogging-site in the world, and became a millionaire herself. Maybe the men in her life partially contributed to her success, - of course everything and everybody in her life probably influenced her decisions on some levels - but it always makes me happy when women rise up, and show leadership by really changing the concept of the news industry. My fascination is more as I also created a different model in the media: a magazine for Mediterranean women.
As Forbes ranked Arianna one of the 12th most influential women in the media, she is a role model for we women journalists, and for women in general, to be fearless and really go for our dreams. She has defined how she can be a leader, and not be let a man or a past career move keep her from reaching her goals. It is inspiring to read stories about women who not only SAY what they want to do, but to act and actually DO those dreams.
I remember her saying in one of the interviews about her book - on how you become your own leader - by looking in the mirror, and you should stop searching for the knight on the white horse who is going to “save” you; And she is right, that only results in your being disappointed again and again.
Her life is the best example for the power of a woman. She divorced from a wealthy man (after he made it clear that he was more attracted to his own sex), she became an influential and wealthy woman in her own right. Her looks and name may mislead you, with her sexy business suits, blond hair and “enhanced” face; she looks like a typical American businesswoman. But then you discover she is not American at all, but conquered America, she becomes a role model for every one of us in the world.
I hope the story of Arianna will inspire more women to pursue their goals, and to become their own leaders.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Daddy's great ambition
It's funny how things can turn so surprising and strange in your life. In 2009 I taught a class at the School for Journalism consisting of very ambitious and hard-working students. I would have never thought that I would become a teacher, even though my entire family consists of teachers: my father and all my uncles were lecturers and also my eldest sister has been teaching very small children for more than twenty years at a Dutch elementary school.
I remember that my father, who passed away exactly seven years ago, was very passionate about his work. With his good looking (he had amazing brown-green eyes), but authoritarian appearance and his knowledge, he gained respect from his students, their parents and the whole community. Whenever we met people in town, or at parties, people would say 'She is the teacher's daughter'. Which was not always fun, because we had no names! We were always 'the daughters of...'. Not that we were not proud of our dad but it also meant that we had to be better, smarter and always more proper than anyone else. If I got a B on my report, my father would ask why it wasn't an A. He did the same with his students as they were also my friends. When I grew older, I asked my father why he did that. His answer: 'Who else could have taught you to be ambitious?'.
Back then, it was no fun. But now, I am very proud that I experienced schooling and being pushed the way I was. But I also realize, after teaching at the University of Texas, how difficult it was for my father to be like that. Expecting the best out of his students meant also that he was highdemanding of himself. His students were ambitious because he was. His children were ambitious because he was.
I experienced how difficult and challenging teaching is. That it's not only about giving the facts and explaining how things work, it's also about stimulating, motivating and inspiring the students. Maybe I can never be as good as my father was, but at least I inherited something from him. I became a mentor. After ten years since my first column was published, I still get questions from my (female) readers, because I have always kept in touch with them. Some of my former UT-students still contact me and my former employees of SEN regularly email me for career-advise. The experience that my little nieces and nephews ask me to help them with their essays and presentations makes me happy. My goal? Inspire them to aim for the highest. And of course, above all, I hope that I can be a rolemodel for my own son.
I may not have my dad's brown-green eyes, but without his great ambition I know I could have never come so far.
I remember that my father, who passed away exactly seven years ago, was very passionate about his work. With his good looking (he had amazing brown-green eyes), but authoritarian appearance and his knowledge, he gained respect from his students, their parents and the whole community. Whenever we met people in town, or at parties, people would say 'She is the teacher's daughter'. Which was not always fun, because we had no names! We were always 'the daughters of...'. Not that we were not proud of our dad but it also meant that we had to be better, smarter and always more proper than anyone else. If I got a B on my report, my father would ask why it wasn't an A. He did the same with his students as they were also my friends. When I grew older, I asked my father why he did that. His answer: 'Who else could have taught you to be ambitious?'.
Back then, it was no fun. But now, I am very proud that I experienced schooling and being pushed the way I was. But I also realize, after teaching at the University of Texas, how difficult it was for my father to be like that. Expecting the best out of his students meant also that he was highdemanding of himself. His students were ambitious because he was. His children were ambitious because he was.
I experienced how difficult and challenging teaching is. That it's not only about giving the facts and explaining how things work, it's also about stimulating, motivating and inspiring the students. Maybe I can never be as good as my father was, but at least I inherited something from him. I became a mentor. After ten years since my first column was published, I still get questions from my (female) readers, because I have always kept in touch with them. Some of my former UT-students still contact me and my former employees of SEN regularly email me for career-advise. The experience that my little nieces and nephews ask me to help them with their essays and presentations makes me happy. My goal? Inspire them to aim for the highest. And of course, above all, I hope that I can be a rolemodel for my own son.
I may not have my dad's brown-green eyes, but without his great ambition I know I could have never come so far.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Nil Rocks!
What I like most about her? Every song describes in detail one aspect of life, love or marriage.
It’s not just a cliche of ‘I love you.. why don’t you come back..’ or ‘Never intended to hurt you..sorry..please stay with me.’ No, Nil Karaibrahimgil writes about how much she – like every girl on this planet - once desired to wear a pink princess dress. At the concert she gave in Paradiso Amsterdam, she started with an excuse telling why she (thought)?) looked weird, with a lace princess skirt on leather brown pants. Every other singer might look ridiculous, But not Nil. Nil Karaibrahimgil, singer, songwriter, cum laude graduate in politics and international relations looks like a supermodel.
Before I had even seen her, I already was fan of her voice. She sang the original soundtrack of the movie ‘Organize Isler Bunlar’ and her distinctive voice using a certain girlish accent, made me curious of who the singer was of this beautiful maffia-song, and what was her story?
I got the chance to interview Nil Karaibrahimgil- known in Europe as the Turkish Bjork, because of her extravagant and daring outfits- quickly after the concert, just for ten minutes- but enough to ask her some nice questions. What I found out:
It was her first time in The Netherlands, but she liked being in Amsterdam a lot. She particularly was fascinated by Paradiso; and that shows her good taste because the authentic building is definitely one of the finest concert locations of this country. Many pop singers would like to stand on the main podium of Paradiso. Nil said she was determined to come back soon and make a bigger tour around Belgium and Germany, because Turkish singers are not used to do European tours as often as other singers do.
Nil is a versatile woman. One of her songs ‘Sana kek yaptim’ (translated: I made cake for you), made me question if she bakes cakes for her partner. She surprised me when she told me she doesn't even bake cakes. Yes, she is definitely 'a free girl', named after her song 'I am free', which is about liberation and feminism.
That’s what I like about her songs. Most of them are about strong women who can take care very well for themselves. Her song 'Pirlanta' (Diamond) is one of my favorites. In this song she tells that she bought her own diamond ring. She seizes topics out of the daily life of contemporary women. One song is totally written about sleeping on your own in a King size bed. She surprised the audience when she asked;’Who in this room sleeps alone in a King size bed?’ Most people (men and women) raised their hands wistfully. And then she said: ’Well, it’s easily fixed. Date with each other!!’
Sometimes her songs are more political, such as "Yaş 18" (Age 18) which is one of the two tracks she recorded for the soundtrack of the Turkish movie Sinav (Exam). The movie and the song deal with the pressure Turkish students face during adolescence.
My last question - about her future plans - actually surprised me, but I should've known better. Her dreams don't differ much from the girl next door's: Now that she's married (at the Nile in Egypt where her name comes from), Nil desperately wants to become a mom. Like most girls do.
It’s not just a cliche of ‘I love you.. why don’t you come back..’ or ‘Never intended to hurt you..sorry..please stay with me.’ No, Nil Karaibrahimgil writes about how much she – like every girl on this planet - once desired to wear a pink princess dress. At the concert she gave in Paradiso Amsterdam, she started with an excuse telling why she (thought)?) looked weird, with a lace princess skirt on leather brown pants. Every other singer might look ridiculous, But not Nil. Nil Karaibrahimgil, singer, songwriter, cum laude graduate in politics and international relations looks like a supermodel.
Before I had even seen her, I already was fan of her voice. She sang the original soundtrack of the movie ‘Organize Isler Bunlar’ and her distinctive voice using a certain girlish accent, made me curious of who the singer was of this beautiful maffia-song, and what was her story?
I got the chance to interview Nil Karaibrahimgil- known in Europe as the Turkish Bjork, because of her extravagant and daring outfits- quickly after the concert, just for ten minutes- but enough to ask her some nice questions. What I found out:
It was her first time in The Netherlands, but she liked being in Amsterdam a lot. She particularly was fascinated by Paradiso; and that shows her good taste because the authentic building is definitely one of the finest concert locations of this country. Many pop singers would like to stand on the main podium of Paradiso. Nil said she was determined to come back soon and make a bigger tour around Belgium and Germany, because Turkish singers are not used to do European tours as often as other singers do.
Nil is a versatile woman. One of her songs ‘Sana kek yaptim’ (translated: I made cake for you), made me question if she bakes cakes for her partner. She surprised me when she told me she doesn't even bake cakes. Yes, she is definitely 'a free girl', named after her song 'I am free', which is about liberation and feminism.
That’s what I like about her songs. Most of them are about strong women who can take care very well for themselves. Her song 'Pirlanta' (Diamond) is one of my favorites. In this song she tells that she bought her own diamond ring. She seizes topics out of the daily life of contemporary women. One song is totally written about sleeping on your own in a King size bed. She surprised the audience when she asked;’Who in this room sleeps alone in a King size bed?’ Most people (men and women) raised their hands wistfully. And then she said: ’Well, it’s easily fixed. Date with each other!!’
Sometimes her songs are more political, such as "Yaş 18" (Age 18) which is one of the two tracks she recorded for the soundtrack of the Turkish movie Sinav (Exam). The movie and the song deal with the pressure Turkish students face during adolescence.
My last question - about her future plans - actually surprised me, but I should've known better. Her dreams don't differ much from the girl next door's: Now that she's married (at the Nile in Egypt where her name comes from), Nil desperately wants to become a mom. Like most girls do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
