Moli is a Turkey-based band focused on making ethnic music, whose current popularity has comefrom their live performances in İzmir (A city in Turkey). Moli’s outstanding feature is blending traditional songs with jazz, R&B and other international tunes. They became known to digital audiences with the release of their first single, ‘İnce Xarxan’, on YouTube and Spotify on August 22nd, 2020. As Turkey consists of diverse ethnic groups, the existence of Group Moli and other singers and bands, who make ethnic music, plays a crucial role in the representation of different cultures.
On September 11th, we had an enjoyable interview where they mentioned their plans, dreams, ideas and aims, as well as their new projects!
Hello! To begin, could you shortly introduce yourselves? How did you become musicians?
Oğulcan: Hi, I’m Oğulcan Özcan. I was born and grew up in İzmir. I am originally from Artvin, Yusufeli.
I have started making music with ‘Tulum’ (one of the many Turkish folk music instruments) at the end of 2010. In addition to this, I manufacture music instruments like ‘Tulum’ and some other wind instruments. I am also interested in flute, saxophone and trumpet. Currently, I am studying in the instrument manufacturing department of the conservatory at Ege University.
Tuncay: Hey, I’m Tuncay Ergün. My hometown is Artvin, Murgul.
I play the guitar, I’m also the vocalist and the soloist of the band. We decided to make the music of the people and the cultures of the Black Sea Region four years ago. We began to make music to spread the tunes and melodies that we heard in our childhoods from our elders. We aim to spread these traditional sounds by recreating them with the harmonies of international sounds. We believe we have begun to reflect our vision and inner world with our first official cover single called ‘İnce Xarxan’.
Emre: Hi, I’m Emre Solmaz and the accordionist of the band. I was born and grew up in Artvin, Centre.
I started to play the accordion during high school, then, I continued playing the accordion for folk dance groups. We put together the band after I began to study in the Turkish Folk Dances department at Ege University.
Alperen: Hey, I’m Alperen Bayraktar and the drummer of the band.
I took part in Folk Dance Groups with Emre in Artvin for 15 years. We put the band together later, after we all met in the conservatory. I believe we have maintained the current process successfully so far, while improving each other.
Giray: Hi, I’m Giray Ergün.
I don’t believe there is any specific date that music [got] involved in my life. Music always exists in everyone’s life, however, only the intensity of the music in one’s life changes. For us, music plays an active role, thus, we became a band. The music that we make reflects our culture, childhood and what we aim to do. Music arouses togetherness, happiness and unity for us and for the people that listen to us. Every word we say, every tune we play, every sound we make serves that purpose.
Tuncay: Also, we like to define our band with these words: A meadow that contains every shade of green, a meadow that becomes green by a few pollens, homesickness, “Black Sea from Kazım to Nazım.”
Why do you make music?
Giray: We aim to create positivity in ourselves and in our audience with the music we make. We intend to spread our culture while increasing the popularity of other marginalized cultures with music.
What is the meaning of ‘Moli’?
Giray: Our ethnic background gave us inspiration for this name which means ‘grass’ in Georgian. Moli symbolizes the unifying factor of village culture. The gathering power of small grass pieces inspired us, thereby, we called ourselves ‘Moli’.
Can you explain the meaning of your ‘Kazım’dan Nazım’a Karadeniz’ (the Black Sea from Kazım to Nazım) slogan?
Tuncay: The ideas and the music style of Kazım Koyuncu is a cornerstone for us. If you live in the interior of Artvin, you can’t see the horizon because of the mountains. However, Kazım Koyuncu was a musician who portrays the horizon through his songs. He represents the fraternity of communities, independence rights of each culture and the sanctity of labour. He is an important role model in both philosophical and musical aspects. That’s why our starting point is Kazım.
Besides, we prefer to remake the songs of other cultures through our covers to provide unity and to serve as a bridge between cultures. Just as the beauty of rainbows depends on their colour diversity, our music reflects the same ideology. Hence, we remark our second spot as Nazım Hikmet. So, we indicate our opinions about freedom and the sanctity of labour through these two important public figures with our slogan.
Giray: Firstly, Nazım was inspired by the rocks on the mountains of Hopa (A county of Artvin which is located in the coastline)in his ‘Karlıkaya’ (Snowy Rock) poem while escaping to Russia. Secondly, Nazım wrote fascinating poems about the forest. Forest and nature are unifying for us. And Nazım was one of the most important poets who uttered this.
Oğulcan: We make a revolution with our greeting, our glance, our instrument, our touch and our heart as Kazım said. Therefore, we act as we want.
You shared your first song called ‘İnce Xarxan’ from your Spotify and YouTube accounts. Why did you choose this Homshetsi (one of the dialects of Armenian) folk song as your first single?
Tuncay: We love to sing this song in our live performances. At the same time, we wanted our first single to be a local song from the East Black Sea region of Turkey.
In which languages do you perform your songs?
Emre: Georgian, Lazuri, Romanian, Armenian (in the Homshetsi dialect), Kurdish, Zazaish, Spanish, Circassian, Italian.
Giray: Honestly, language is not a criteria for us. We can make the cover of any song that we like. We all have diverse ethnic backgrounds, however, one of the most important points for us is to make music in languages which are underrepresented and are faced with danger of extinction.
Have you ever experienced any positive or negative discrimination because of the music that you make?
Tuncay: We didn’t face any adverse reaction while singing songs in Lazuri, Georgian, other Caucasian languages or other languages which are spoken in the East Black Sea region of Turkey. Even so, a few times, some of our audience left in the middle of the performance while we were singing Kurdish songs.
Giray: No matter in which languages we sing our songs, it depends on how we reflect our emotions, what the message is that we want to give and, also, how our audience interprets the message that’s given, plays a determining role. For this reason, the negative reactions that we receive are too little compared to positive ones. All in all, most of our audience accompany us without understanding any of the words while we sing songs in diverse languages.
How long have you been doing live performances?
Tuncay: We regularly perform at Gramafon and Taka cafés in İzmir.
Giray: We’ve performed at Gramafon café for over three years now. And we’ve performed in Taka café for four years.
Emre: In summers on Wednesdays and Saturdays and in winters on Saturdays, we perform at Gramafon café. Our performance days at Taka café is flexible.
When will we hear your next single?
Tuncay: We have done most of the recording for our new single, so we aim to share it in a month.
What are the two covers that you enjoy to perform on a live stage?
Giray: ‘İnce Xarxan’.
Tuncay: ‘Hayde’ from Kazım Koyuncu because we can adapt this song in most styles. This piece is adorned with jazz motives.
Oğulcan: We can even perform ‘Hayde’ in arabesque style.
Hopefully, you will record these covers in a studio and share them from your social media accounts like Spotify and YouTube as well.
Tuncay: That’s what we hope. We will also work on this later on.
Do you have a plan or a dream?
Tuncay: Our dream is to travel to every city in Anatolia with our caravan to give concerts. This dream can gain an international dimension with Europe, Asia, Africa, America as well.
Thank you for this interview! It was very pleasant for me. Lastly, where can our readers reach out to you?
Emre: It was enjoyable for us as well. Thank you! They can follow us from these accounts:
Facebook: @grupmoli08
Instagram: @molimoliofficial
YouTube: Moli
Spotify: Moli
Interviewer: Bersun Kılınç
Featured image courtesy of @molimoliofficial on Instagram and Canva. Permission was granted by the owner of the image and no changes were made to the image.