By Linus Lassus
Danish and Nordic music keep finding audiences around the globe. Nordik Simit is a quite popular music blog in Turkey, focusing solely on Nordic music. The blog has only been up for a year and according to Utku Çubukçu, founder and editor, there seems to be a growing interest for Nordic artists in Turkey.
“Nordik Simit is a Nordic culture and art project and blog that I started in November 2014. It’s based in Istanbul and publishes articles on the topic, at the moment only in Turkish. Its main mission is to bring Nordic culture to Istanbul and Turkey. People ask a lot about what “simit” means – it’s a traditional kind of bread (kind of like a Turkish bagel/pretzel).”
“I have always loved the Nordics, ever since my childhood. My favorite toy was a Volvo car and my favorite cartoon was about vikings. I’ve also always wanted to create a blog, because I love sharing what I like and what I’ve learned. The idea came already during my high school years, but it wasn’t launched until I moved to Istanbul for university. And so, it all came together in Nordik Simit.
At first, the blog covered many different areas, I shared news from Istanbul’s indie music scene etc., to create a basis. But pretty quickly I started to only focus on Nordic culture.”
“I really love the minimalism the most about the Nordics. Then it’s the Nordic music. On the blog I write about music mostly, but also about other interesting news regarding the Nordic countries and different Nordic events in Turkey.”
“There is a small community who loves Nordic music. I say “small” because there’s more than 70 million people living in Turkey. When looking at the people who like music festivals, art exhibitions etc., mostly they’re familiar with Nordik Simit and like it. So I dare say that it is quite popular in Turkey. It also has more followers and visitors than most other Turkish blogs in the cultural field.”
“Hmm, it’s a hard question, I can’t pick any favorites! Anyway, I’m a huge fan of Oh Land and MØ, ever since their first appearances!”
For those who still need to practice their skills in Turkish, Utku recommends the Nordik Simik Instagram account, where no language is needed!
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