On the morning that the Illawarra Flame talks to soprano Ayse Göknur Shanal – the soloist in the upcoming Worlds Connect concert program with Steel City Strings – she has just managed to make contact with her sister in Ankara.
The mixture of relief and sadness in her voice are obvious. There are more family members to locate who have not been reached yet. “Some of them are sleeping in their cars. There is no power in most places affected, so no one can charge their mobile phones,” Göknur explains.
Her nieces and nephews have volunteered with the earthquake rescue and recovery mission, but the scale of the disaster in Turkey and Syria is hard to comprehend.
“The real struggle will be for the 10 million displaced people in the long term. The novelty will wear off when the news cycle moves on,” she sighs.
For now, the Turkish-Australian singer feels the best she can do is turn all her planned events into fundraisers.
Göknur’s parents migrated to Australia in 1970. Although she now lives in Blacktown, she grew up in Wollongong and studied at UOW, so she still has strong local connections: “I run into people I know all the time,” she says.
She retains strong ties to her cultural heritage. It features prominently in the repertoire of the Steel City Strings concerts, but with a tweak in response to the tragic circumstances: “I am singing infectious, lively folk songs from the region that has been affected, and I can’t do that now without adding a lament.
“The hardest task for a singer is to stay in control of one’s emotions.”
After two years of losing dozens of performances due to Covid, Göknur is thrilled to be able to perform again.
“It was a challenging time, especially raising two children on the cusp of adolescence during some of the strictest lockdowns in Sydney. I did a certain amount of stuff online, just to keep my hand in, but I felt like my wings had been cut off and it was hard to find the inspiration to practise.”
She did other things instead, from starting a veggie garden to focussing on legal work. Göknur is also a lawyer, a graduate of the University of Western Sydney. Her parallel career allows her to combine her love of music with her commitment to social justice issues.
“For me, the two go together. I get asked to perform as part of campaigns on issues that I feel passionate about. One of those is water rights. I’ve been out on Gomeroi Country at the request of the local Indigenous communities to help with their anti-CSG campaign to protect the artesian basin.”
It’s unusual to find a classically trained opera singer who embraces activism on refugee rights, Indigenous and environmental issues as publicly as Göknur, giving voice, quite literally, to the issues closest to her heart.
The Worlds Connect concerts will be held in Robertson (March 5); Shellharbour (11th); Wollongong (7.30pm, 11th); and Nowra (12th). Visit steelcitystrings.com.au
