XTRA Throwback Thursday: Delightfully Turkish

It’s Thursday, which means it’s finally time for another XTRA Throwback Thursday! This autumn and winter we’re enjoying taking you on a journey through Europe and beyond, a journey through the history of the Eurovision Song Contest. And since the Republic of Turkey was declared on October 29, we’ll head there this week. Happy 94th birthday! 

Rock! Rock!! ROCK!!!

As I have mentioned before (a gazillion times…or more); I am a rock chick at heart. At Eurovision this might sometimes present a problem, as there a) isn’s much rock at all and b) what rock there is, isn’t very good. In my opinion, that is. But there are a few exceptions, and the two, perhaps even three, best rock entries in the history of Eurovision are Turkish.

Mor ve Ötesi ⇒ maNga

Mor ve Ötesi completely blew me away with their “Deli” back in 2008, so of course I went straight to Youtube, wanting to find more of their music. The Youtube gods were in a good mood that day, and recommended I listen to a band called maNga too. At first I thought; “Why would I wanna listen to some Japanese cartoon thingy?”, but I decided to go along with it. And Thank heavens for that! From the first notes I was completely sold on maNga, (not so) secretly wanting them to do Eurovision. And no more than two years later, my prayers were answered.

Turkish ⇔ English

I have to admit, though, that I always imagined them singing in Turkish at Eurovision. As a result, when I heard the title of the song I was initially a bit disappointed. However, that changed as soon as I heard the song! I love “We Could Be the Same” with a passion! And even though I kinda like “Satellite”, I also kinda hate it…since maNga should have won the 2010 contest.

Some other time…

There is also a story about that time I interviewed them in Oslo (my first ever Eurovision interview…) that involves Ferman’s eyes (Holy TimTam; those eyes!!) and my mind going completely blank… However; this is not the time nor the place for that story. Some other time; I promise!

There’s also this acoustic version that is beyond beautiful.

What the others had to say…

Hlynur

In 2010 I would have to say that the only entry I saw was “Satellite”. That was without a doubt my song that year. However, in retrospect I have to say that this entry has aged really well, and much better than the winner. So, today I’m much more likely to enjoy “We Could Be the Same” than “Satellite”. I find this song to be way more timeless, and it has this really good and cool sound.

Nick

I’m not a rock guy. I’m not normally the guy to like Turkish entries either. That does not bode well for maNga and their 2010 effort in Eurovision. Despite expecting a fierce dislike, I actually don’t mind listening to it. It certainly did well in the contest and it was especially pleasing that Lena still beat this. For me, true Turkish delight would be something like Dinle or Petr’oil. If you’d however ask me to name my favourite Turkish entries, my answer would be Süper Star. Or Rimi Rimi Ley…

Tim

I really love “We Could Be the Same. I didn’t really like the Turkish entries until 2010 when ManGa participated. I like the fact that it is something unique and quite a good rock song. I hope Turkey and maNga comes back again someday and actually win it.

Yassia

I think it’s the best song of Turkey ever. I like everything about it: the band, lyrics, the spectacular show. The interesting thing is that I remembered this song even just by looking at the title, this is not typical of me:) It definitely means that I really liked it back in 2010 and still like it! I think that Turkey has a huge potential at the Eurovision song contest and I hope it will use it soon and surprise us all again!

Next week

Next week we will move on to one of the Big 5 countries; Italy! It will be very exciting to see which of the many great Italian entries our Riccardo will choose for his Throwback Thursday!
But for now, let’s enjoy this stunningly amazing masterpiece, and keep our fingers crossed that Turkey will return to the contest with more quality rock! Come on and sing along! “We could be the saaaaame, no matter what they say!”