Getting Back the Music

Ilknur, when did you lose your hearing?

I went deaf late in life, and nobody quite knows why. When I was about two and a half years old, my mother realised that there was something wrong with my hearing. At first, I was not completely deaf, only hard of hearing. I could still listen to music with hearing aids until I was a teenager. When I was 18, I had another sudden hearing loss. Since then, I have been completely deaf.

What role does music play in your life?

I loved listening to music and dancing. As a teenager, I taught children sign language songs and dance, which came to an end when I became completely deaf. I needed a bit of time to come to terms with my deafness and pushed the music aside for a while. But five years later, I plucked up the courage to return to music – not through the ears, but through touch. Dancing was therapy for me: I was able to switch off and let it all out. But it wasn’t yet a sense of “I’ve got the music back”. That only came through my involvement with Deaf performance.

How did you find out about this art form?

I have the “Oben Ohne Open Air” in Munich to thank for that. In 2021, the festival was looking for someone to organise concerts for deaf people. They approached me and together we thought about how we could put on music for deaf people and make it visible. Deaf performance is a new phenomenon. There are different styles and methods of working. That sparked my desire to perform music. When I think about it, I still get goosebumps and am grateful for this huge opportunity.

You will be at the Gasteig HP8 for the third time as a Deaf performer at the Long Night of Music, accompanying the performance of the Munich trio Sinem. How are you preparing for this?

What I like best is to work with the lyrics, so I get the setlist and lyrics sent to me in advance. It’s important to understand that I’m not an interpreter of music: I don’t translate the songs verbatim, as that wouldn’t be so effective in visually conveying what the music is all about. Rather, I try to think about how I can convey and visualise the music for a deaf audience, for example by using facial expressions or sign language poetry. To do this, I research the metaphors in the lyrics and how I can hook in with the rhythm and style of the music.

Sinem’s Anatolian post-punk is going to be a blast, right?

(Laughs) Well it’s punk! Loud concerts are great for deaf people. As a Deaf performer, this makes it easier for me to adapt and feel the rhythm through the vibrations in the floor and in my body. Thanks to iTunes, I can play the songs beforehand with subtitles and see how fast they are. Of course, I have to practise so that I can convey the message in sign language in a way that fits with Sinem’s music. At the concert itself, I have a kind of teleprompter that shows the original German lyrics and my sign language version in parallel. A sign language interpreter listens to the live sound and operates the teleprompter for me so that my timing matches the band.

Sinem sing Turkish lyrics. How do you deal with that?

That’s a nice coincidence, because I am Turkish. My family moved to Germany when I was about three years old. I don’t read Turkish fluently, but I’ve asked my family about the meaning of some metaphors. Sinem even sent me a German translation of the texts, which is very nice of them and convenient for me. Maybe I’ll incorporate some Turkish sign language into the choruses, which is completely different.

What do you like best about a performance like this?

It’s fantastic that I can perform and experience concerts. At Oben Ohne, I learned that deaf people can actually follow a concert and that the music really resonates with them. That’s amazing! Until now, deaf people have rarely attended events like this, but their number is growing. My goal would be for Deaf performances to become part and parcel of all events. If just one deaf person buys a ticket or wants to come, there should be a Deaf performance. This takes time, but we’re making a little progress every year.