track 05 - winter's coming

The meaning

I am half Turkish-Cypriot, half English and I speak Turkish and English. English is my first language but I’m fluent in Turkish and I also write songs in Turkish.

I often have to compartmentalise myself. Turkish Jay over here, English Jay over here. I keep my Turkish songs away from my English ones. I am two different people when I’m with Brits or Turks - neither of which is the real me either.

I wanted to write a song that for me was a first, where I melted the English and Turkish language into one, as a sign of acceptance that I am these two things.

The song itself is called Winter’s Coming (nothing to do with GOT, I’d never watched a single episode when I wrote this song) It’s basically a song of acceptance on two levels - one, because times are changing, my life is changing and perhaps times ahead are going to be a little harder and two because I am presenting my two sides in one song.

The music

I made a deliberate choice not to use Turkish sounding instruments in the recording. This was because I wanted to feel free to not have to place the Turkish side in a box. A box a lot of people use to ignore all the rest. There is a slight hearkening back to a couple of favourite Turkish bands of mine but I wanted to keep the style Western and mix a folky feel with a bit of electronic.