11/08/2021
A dreamy night indeed. Özçelik’s singing took us on a journey of love, self-discovery, and glee. Once again Prizren’s Castle hosts a performance which bring an audience ready to experience magic. There is something special about hearing performances at this stage because the audience can get the best view of the city while staying at a certain altitude and hearing a sound of it own different solely unique from the sound dispersed in Prizren.
A cheerful audience followed Deniz Özçelik sing her own song some of which she has recently created and some of them she sang after a long time she created them. Her lyrics are truthful and emotional, expressing her experiences with strong and erratic emotions. The need to be accepted, the ability to love someone who does not love you back, the freeing feeling of letting someone go but most importantly expressing them musically makes her performance unparalleled.
All of us had the urge to clap and sing along while she jumped from performing her own songs to very popular musical creation which everyone knows by heart.
Deniz Özçelik mixes modern music with jazzy tones and Turkish folk. Her scatting voice rejoices with her high notes creating an airy sound, expanding through space. Her performance combined instruments and an electronic booth which she controlled, creating a choir of different sound which were tastefully brought together.
The main theme of this performance was love which comes in many forms. Her concern about the planet, forest fires, animal rights pronounced themselves through her performance. To her, raising awareness through music shows that her songs are not only about personal experiences but also raise important questions. Through a weepy melody, sorrow spelled itself when she sang about issues that matter to her.
Besides expressing her thoughts on the issues that matter to her, Deniz opened her soul to the audience through well build verses about loss, vulnerability and making lemonade out of lemons.
Delightfully she ended the performances in a cheery song, where drums, guitar and bass were a true ensemble of celebrating the little things in life.
After her performance, the audience went back in the city and while watching their steps, one could her them humming to different melodies of her songs.
Sonic Nights at DokuFest are really an experience that bring together people of many places and makes them unite through music.
If you want to participate in Sonic Nights, you can do so at the ending days of DokuFest. More performers are coming, so stay tuned!