SAYGI1 | SERTAB ERENER

Saygı is Turkish for respect. SAYGI1 — Babala TV and Sinerji Medya’s honours format, in the lineage of MTV Icon — pays it while the artist is alive to receive it. The first night belonged to Ceza. The second belonged to the voice that won Eurovision for Türkiye.

TWENTY VOICES FOR ONE VOICE.

For one night, thirty years of songs changed hands. The lineup crossed every register of Turkish pop and beyond: Kenan Doğulu, Levent Yüksel, Nil Karaibrahimgil, Hande Yener, Mirkelam, Fatma Turgut, Gökhan Türkmen, Ceylan Ertem, Melek Mosso, Kalben, Karsu, Aleyna Tilki, Can Ozan, Emir Can İğrek, Sena Şener, Şanışer, Nova Norda, Selin Geçit, Soner Sarıkabadayı, TNK and Adamlar — each in their own style, on the songs of the woman who took “Everyway That I Can” to first place at Eurovision 2003.

This night carried a different weight than the first. Sertab Erener holds a place in Turkish music history that belongs to her alone — and it showed in the room: every artist on that bill had a place in their own story where her voice already lived. You could hear it in the performances; nobody was covering a song, they were returning something. Sertab watched her own catalogue come back at her, and closed the night herself.