Howling winds and frigid cold this past Saturday night did little to dissuade a group of us from attending the Pinhâni show at Kadıköy Sahne. Having previously seen Pinhâni at Hayal Kahvesi in Taksim, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to see them play again. Pinhâni’s style of Turkish alternative rock is a perfect fusion of instrumental talent (in the form of Akın Eldes, Zeynep Eylül Üçer, Hami Ünlü, Cem Aksel, and Selim Aydın), bolstered by the captivating vocals of Sinan Kaynakçı.
The venue was already crowded 30 minutes before show time. The show started shortly after 11:00 pm, around half an hour after the advertised start time, which gave us enough time to discover that two 50 cl Bomontis were a staggering 35 TL. Ushered in by a seizure-inducing light show, the band made their way to the stage. At that moment, I remember being disappointed to see that Akın and Zeynep were not there. Looking back on both experiences, I feel that their talents and on-stage energy were sorely missed. They kicked the show off immediately with one of their new songs, “Dur Söyleme,” which transformed into a pot-pourri of traditional songs, including “Kasap Havası.”
Aside from the guest appearances (which I’ll get to later), the musical versatility Sinan displayed was quite impressive. He successfully sang, played guitar, saxophone, drums and even jammed out with a kazoo. The drummer took his turn on the microphone, and at one point, it appeared as if a member of the audience was on stage singing! I remember thinking to myself that their job isn’t so easy, even though they did their best to make it look effortless. Time in between songs was punctuated with more than enough stage banter, and at these times it seemed as if the crowd’s chatter intensified.
Later, they played their more popular pieces, such as “Ne Güzel Güldün” and “Dursana Dünya.” The set list included a sampling of songs from all three of their albums: Başka Şeyler (2012), my personal favorite Zaman Beklemez (2008), and İnandığın Masallar (2006). The crowd’s reaction was even more explosive than before, and on several occasions the entire underground was reverberating with the voices of hundreds as we all sang along.
As mentioned above, the night was filled with a host of wonderful musical guests such as Jehan Barbus on vocals and Mert Önal playing drums. Two members of the popular Kolektif Istanbul, Tamer Karaoğlu rocking out with an accordion and Ertan Şahin piping away on French horn, also graced the stage with an outstanding collaborative performance across several pieces. All in all, the night was filled with the energy of musicians who love what they do, and spirited music that had both young and old dancing to the beat.
