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Turkey 2011: Yüksek Sadakat

Posted 13 April, 2011 - 23:39 by Serkan Uluçay

Artist name:

Yüksek Sadakat

Song title:

Live It Up

Song writer(s):

Kutlu Özmakinacı, Ergün Arsal

Year:

2011

Language:

Turkish

Country:

Turkey

Starting position semi-final 1:

Rank in semi-final 1:

Points in semi-final 1:

About the song:

It is a rock song in quite a European style. The violins and piano suit it very well and it is the kind of song that you can't really find anything wrong with. Another catchy song from Turkey as has come to be expected.

About the participant:

The group, Yüksek Sadakat was founded in 1997 firstly by songwriter and bass guitarist Kutlu Özmakinacı, with the first album released in 2006 and the group soon gained a large fan base within a short period of time. The second and the last album Katil & Maktül, was released in 2008. You can also buy Katil and Maktül via EuroVisionary.

The group members are:

Kenan Vural (Vocalist)
Serkan Özgen (guitarist)
Kutlu Özmakinacı (bass guitarist)
Uğur Onatkut (keyboard)
Alpay Şalt (batery)

The first single video from the first album of the group, Belki Üstümüzden Bir Kuş Geçer, made it to the top of many charts in Turkey and this song also received the most played song award of the year.

After an offer from TRT radio, the group started to record a radio programme for their fans, with the individual members sharing their experiences and thoughts. This programme was broadcasted throughout 2008.

A European tour of the group was scheduled in 2009 after the heavy demand from their fans around Europe and the group gave 7 concerts including Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. One year later, 400 000 listeners attended their concert tours at spring festivals at several universities in Turkey.

About the selection:

The group was selected internally by the Turkish broadcaster, TRT, on December the 30th and the news was revealed to Turkish fans at New Year's Eve. According to procedure, the group submitted three songs to the broadcaster. A special jury from TRT's music department had the final say on the song, Live It Up. The song was premiered in 26th of February.

Mere minutes into 2011, Turkish media started to declare their thoughts, voicing heavy critisims that the group was not suitable for the image portrayed by the Eurovision Song Contest. You can read more about this in Reactions After Turkey's Suprise Decision. The group responded professionally, shared their work with Europe, Live It Up which is expected as a certain qualifier for the final stage from the first semi final, according to betting prognoses.

Lyrics:

Here’s your favourite song on the radio
shake your head to the beat- it’s rock n roll
if you’re feeling the world has kicked you down
all you need is just to have a little fun

hey, it’s time to live it up
my friend, put the record on
sing it loud and let it out
life is beautiful
my friend let it out
life is beautiful

give yourself a break, come on and live it up
give yourself a break

driving on with no map to lead me on
eyes on the horizon and there’s no turning round
sometimes i feel, i feel i’m not alone
so let your colors shine right next to mine

hey, it’s time to live it up
my friend, put the record on
sing it loud and let it out
life is beautiful
my friend let it out
life is beautiful

give yourself a break, come on and live it up
give yourself a break

i say my friend life is beautiful
i say my friend life is beautiful

i say my friend… put the record on
sing it loud and let it out
life is beautiful
my friend let it out
life is beautiful

give yourself a break, come on and live it up
give yourself a break