Should I Be The Cloud? (Bulut mu Olsam?)

Lyrics: Nazim Hikmet (Ran). Great Turkish master artist. Internationally renowned poet, writer, and activist.
Music: O. Zulfu Livaneli. Internationally renowned musician, composer, performer, poet, writer, and director.

I remember that day quite vividly, and with such fondness. As a teenager, how much could I have known about music? What was good music, what music was bad? Was it really divided that sharply? We were told by the know-all-about-music authorities that the "arabesque" music was not good. They also said the classical music was the best. My father concurred. Silently, we disagreed: it was sometimes boring as hell. Then, there was the music of the revolutionists. Dry, but touching; simplistic, but openly dissenting; unsophisticated, but moving. Furthermore, most were accompanied by "baglama" (long necked lute of Anatolia) only. Why was such beauty condemned to such unenviable existence? I could not answer.

Then, that day, during evening hours, something started to be played on the television. To me, it was an illumination, a revelation. I understood then: my music could be good. Beside the powerful words, it had a captivating melody, and it audaciously combined our baglama with some of the well known orchestral instruments of the symphonies. Although Orhan Gencebay and others had done it before with traditional instruments, this was different.

I was almost in a transcendent state: simply staring at the box and trying to absorb the flow of sounds. Since then, it has always been one of my most favorite musical pieces. Sadly, it has since been downplayed by listeners, even by the composer himself. Let's see what you will think about it.

I think this is the original video (replayed later): www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCTG-UcRBsQ

Original lyrics:
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Denizin üstünde ala bulut,
Yüzünde gümüş gemi,
İçinde sarı balık,
Dibinde mavi yosun.

Kıyıda bir çıplak adam,
Durmuş düşünür:
Bulut mu olsam, gemi mi yoksa
Yosun mu olsam, balık mı yoksa.

Ne o, ne o, ne o, ne o,
Deniz olunmalı oğlum!
Bulutuyla gemisiyle, balığıyla yosunuyla,
Bulutuyla gemisiyle, deniz olunmalı oğlum!

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