User:Riaria01/sandbox

His journey:
Kursat Kalez was born in Turkey and has lived in the Netherlands since 1994. Here he quickly learnt to speak Dutch fluently. He is one of the first new Dutchmen who has graduate in four years in master’s degree economics at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. While working for several large organizations, he also successfully completed two different postgraduate courses in 2013 (European Instituut for Public Controlling, EICPC) and 2017 (Executive Master of Management Consulting, MMC) both at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Although he had a rewarding career as an economist at the University of Amsterdam, he decided to stop working. This was one of the toughest decisions in his life. It turns out to be true for him that “Heart rules over the head”. After thinking long and hard, and a lot of tears, he decided to follow his heart, MUSIC and went for it.

His first concert and more:
He gave his first concert at the age of 8 at a primary school in Turkey. ''A teacher asked in a class; who can sing? Everyone answered Kursat.'' He sang Esmerim (a Turkish folk song) and from that moment on, he knew he was born for this. He wrote his first song when he was 12 and since then he has written more than 100 songs. He is an autodidact in music and music productions. After his first three albums (FIS, Havan Batsin 2006; Zibidi 2007; Caresiz Sensiz 2007, Alles Met Jou en Aska Gelmek 2009), he surprised many by deciding to take a very unexpected direction in his musical career. He stops with pop music!

His inspiration for changing:
He often listens to classical music and arias from famous operas. After a hunch and affirmative feedback from several listeners, he decided in 2010 to record classical music from Italy but with a Turkish twist, with Turkish instruments and a Mediterranean temperament (focused on feeling and emotion, not on an acting). After a lengthy search, he found 12 lovely songs such as Notte, IL Canto, Domani Verra, Un Giorno Per Noi and E Lucievan Le Stelle. All the song he had chosen had been sung by operatic legends such as Pavarotti, Lucio Dalla and Mario Frangoulis. To take on such a challenge he spoke to several producers. Some even advised him not to sing classical music because he wouldn't be able to perform it. After a year of searching, he found Joos van Leeuwen, one of the most experienced producers in the Netherlands, who believed in his story, in his voice and in his personality. Together they decided that they want to make an album that would stand the tests of time and in order to for this to happen all the instruments would have to be played acoustically. In 2014 they start with this album project at Studio Soundwise in Amsterdam and his own studio K2K Music Studio in Alkmaar.

His new album cost 13 years to finish
At this time, Kursat Kalez was still working full time. He had to split his time between several postgraduate courses, teaching himself to record his vocals, experimenting with microphones and recording techniques, and writing two books. That meant that this album with its 10 songs took significantly longer than usual to record. In addition, searching for the right combination of western and eastern instruments, skilled instrumentalists, correct keys and tempo and studio recording also took more time.

While recording demo songs, he realized that singing classical songs was incredibly difficult for a self-taught (autodidact) singer. He realized that he needed more than experience in singing by feel and hearing, but an extremely good singing technique and breathing support was necessary to be able to sing these songs legato and relaxed. In 2018 he sought professional help and found Deborah, a singing teacher. After a minute of listening, she said to Kursat “I have to teach you another breathing technique and posture”. It took him almost 3 years to forget his old technique and way of singing and to master this new technique. From her, he not only learnt how he can sing the high C relaxed as a tenor, but also the golden advice to stay true to himself and be authentic. It seems he has invested 10,000 hours in his singing 😊.

Scarcity compels creativity
As a child of a very poor family, he had no money to buy toys, and made his own toys. He can still wholeheartedly confirm the saying ‘scarcity compels creativity’, because he writes his lyrics (and compose if needed), he records his own voice in his own studio, he edits his own voice and he also mixes and master his own voice with analog devices. The same goes for his video clips; he writes the scenarios, he looks for suitable locations, arranges cameramen, camera equipment, extras, works as a director and recording director and edits his music videos, add colour correction and colour grading to his music videos. He also designs his own website, monitors the business aspects of music and the content of social media. He works seven days a week for his dream. He does this with conviction and pleasure. Of course, he gets a lot of help from Maria (his right hand), Joos (his producer), Rolf, Luuk & Tarzan (his cameramen) and many other good friends and family around the world 😊

He likes to be inspired and would also like to inspire others as well
He also wanted to share his story with everyone and inspire others. Why he had to come to the Netherlands from Turkey, what his mission is in this life, why he went through such a musical change, what it brought him, what he learned from his journey, what he wanted to pass on to people. He wrote all this in his book. One of his dreams is to release this book and album together as one piece. So that people who read the book understand the album better and listen to the album will understand the book, the story behind this journey.

He believes in the good heart of people and continues to invest in relationships. From there, around 50 friends, professionals help him to achieve his dream, for which he is grateful and bows to these friends for life.

It’s time
Now after 13 years, his first single with a music video recorded in The Netherlands, will be released in July 2023. All 10 songs are ready for release and he intends to release a music video with each of these songs. He is going to release a new song every 4 weeks. After releasing 10 songs with 10 music videos, he intends to release his book to accompany this album, the music videos and a making of 😊.