Erşahin’s sounds from Istanbul to Manhattan

His modesty despite his success both within the New York music scene and internationally provides a clue to what motivates İlhan Erşahin.

Born to a Swedish mother and Turkish father İlhan Erşahin, 43, was raised in Stockholm and has lived in New York for more than 20 years. He spends most of his time on tour overseas, anywhere from Brazil to Turkey, playing either saxophone or keyboard in concerts as part of six different projects he is involved with.
He describes his work as projects as he does not have a stable band. "Wax Poetic," "I led 3 Lives," "Love Trio," "Istanbul Sessions," "Wonderland" and "Nublu Orchestra" are the current projects he is involved with. He has worked with a multitude of musicians both within and outside these projects including Turkish musicians Hüsnü Şenlendirici and Nil Karaibrahimgil, famous singer Norah Jones, musician and actor Saul Williams and French contemporary jazz trumpeter Eric Truffaz. The Nublu Records label, established by Erşahin two years ago, also has a variety of groups working with them.

He relishes the diversity this brings to his life. "The most exciting thing for me is making and hearing new music. Therefore, I like to be part of many different groups at the same time and play with different musicians," Erşahin told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

These different musicians come together at his bar, Nublu, which he opened in 2002. This music venue on Avenue C in the East Village of Manhattan serves as a meeting point and breeding ground for many musicians and for many different musical sounds coming out of New York. The "nublu concept" means a lot to him. "Nublu is an organic life style," he said. He describes the music he makes as "Nublu sound."

First saxophone at 16
Erşahin was not one of those children who was forced to play an instrument from an early age. He was a good listener, but did not play any instrument until he was 16, instead he was interested in sports, especially squash. "I started to play the saxophone at the age of 16. We had a very free family environment. But music was always there. There was no musician in the family, but we used to listen to different music every day," he said. He said this free environment, full of music, was reflected in his music. "I was not raised with songs for children, nor was I familiar with either Turkish or Swedish folk music. So, there was not any dominant musical style that we listened to at home. I like to listen to all kinds of music. This made me create my own music and my own style," he said.

Dreamland: America
Erşahin’s American adventure began in 1986 when he sent a sample record to the Berklee College of Music in Boston and was awarded a scholarship. After he finished his degree, he decided to move to New York, which had always been his dream city. When he went to New York in 1989 he did not know anyone. Once there, he received another scholarship to study for a semester in the jazz department at the "New School" where he had the chance to meet many important musicians.

One of the turning points in his life was a job at Sweet Basil, the famous jazz bar in New York at that time. He did not play music there, but worked as busboy, bartender and doorman, however, it enabled him to meet many important names in American jazz music. "My mind was full of jazz those days. I used to practice for 10 hours before I went to work at Sweet Basil and once there, I used to listen to these jazz legends throughout the night," said Erşahin.

After a while Erşahin started to play in small cafes and restaurants with different bands. Like many young musicians in New York he also played in subway stations and in Central Park to earn money. One day, a Russian trumpet player discovered him in Central Park and invited him to join his band on a European tour. This became Erşahin’s first international tour.

Erşahin’s first 10 years in New York were full of classical jazz. He was so into this type of music that his saxophone playing improved dramatically. He studied legendary names, such as American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane and trumpeters Miles Davis and Joe Henderson, very closely. He first tried to understand and then to play their music.

In 1995, however, a new musical movement emerged in Britain. Bands like Massive Attack began pioneering new sounds that fused jazz, hip-hop, rock and soul. "I was looking for something new, something other than classical jazz that I had been dealing with for 10 years. Pure jazz began to seem too conservative to me. As I liked to listen to punk, rock and ska before jazz, I really liked this new movement."

Inspired by these new fusion sounds, Erşahin decided to create his own music. He began to arrange parties every Friday in Manhattan’s East Village and invited different people from different musical backgrounds, such as electronic music, rap, jazz and even DJ’s. With this, his jam sessions began, which he also describes as the beginning of the "nublu spirit" and his first project, Wax Poetic. Following Wax Poetic’s first album, released in 1998 by Doublemoon, many other projects followed.

Today, he has become the owner of a well-known jazz club and a record company in New York and is also an acclaimed musician. He still likes to fuse different sounds and create his own music. "Being a musician does not require having artistic skills and style," he said and encouraged people who created their own music to feel free when doing this.

Erşahin is looking forward to seeing people appreciate good quality music. "The capitalist system and its consumption habits have changed peoples’ tastes. We live in such a weird world where the worst movies are watched the most, where the worst albums become best sellers, where the worst food is the most popularÉ This system will never collapse by itself as some people expect it to. Action must be taken to make people look beyond the bad and realize the good."

His plan for the following year is to continue his current six projects. His expectations are high, but he is always modest and wants to keep creating his own music. His dream is to open other Nublus in Rio, Sao Paulo or in Istanbul in the future.