<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">ID</h2>Your nickname:&nbsp;I don't really have one but my name at Starbucks is Poyraz and some friends call me that now.&nbsp;I have visited in Istanbul recently:&nbsp;Silivri! Far away but technically still Istanbul!&nbsp;I have explored recently (in the city):&nbsp;Last week I took a group of visiting students on a walking tour of Yedikule and Samatya, one of my favorite areas of the city.&nbsp;I live in:&nbsp;Kurtuluş&nbsp;&nbsp;I am from:&nbsp;Albuquerque, New Mexico<h2 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">SHOOT THE BREEZE</h2>Hello Paul! I remember reading a quote recently from you which answered a tweet that in summary said, "If you live far, far away from where you were born and grew up, you are a nut job." And you replied, "6486 miles away, must be a weirdo." It sure is a long way from the United States to Istanbul, but I am not sure if it makes you a weirdo. Can you please tell us how Paul Osterlund ended up in Istanbul?I came to Istanbul for the first time on a student trip in 2007, when I was 19 and in my second year of university. We attended a lecture at Boğaziçi University and I clearly remember being floored when I first saw the view of the Bosphorus from the hill leading down toward south campus. As a kid who grew up in a small town near landlocked Albuquerque, New Mexico, to say the least I was awestruck. At that point I realized that I could live in Istanbul. I came back in 2008 and spent a year studying at Boğaziçi University as an exchange student. After living in the US for a couple years, I returned in 2011 to do my MA at Sabancı University and have been here ever since.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/7/5/1659715737689.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.67" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Paul is in front of his local watch repairerPhoto: Deniz Sabuncu<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">You have been living in Istanbul for more than a decade now. You speak fluent Turkish and most probably know Istanbul better than most of the locals. You even have a Turkish Studies MA from Sabancı University! I believe that your relationship with Istanbul in particular, but Turkey in general is unique amongst the expats living today in the city. Can you please dwell on your love affair with Istanbul, what is so fascinating about the city for you?I love that it is a 24-hour city. I like coming back to the neighborhood and having tavuklu pilav&nbsp;on the street at 4 AM, or being able to order beer from numerous shops at any hour. After getting used to the pace and energy of Istanbul, going to other cities where everything shuts down at 10 PM or midnight is depressing and disorienting. In spite of the catastrophic over development and obscene construction, I still manage to find beauty in the city all the time. Even in places in my neighborhood or nearby that I've passed by hundreds of times, for the first time I'll notice a neglected but charming Art-Deco building, an old wraught-iron door with heart and tulip patterns, or an ornately hand-painted golden apartment sign. Living here has accelerated my attention for details and interest in architecture.Istanbul is also completely responsible for me becoming a journalist. The city is an endless source of inspiration and there is an infinite number of stories to be told. I was finishing my MA thesis in 2013 right when the Gezi Park protests broke out, and coincidentally my thesis had a chapter about Gezi Park. By that point I knew I didn't want to continue in academia but did want to keep writing about Istanbul, so I decided to get in to journalism. That same summer I was fortunate to get a scholarship to attend an intensive advanced Turkish language program at Boğaziçi, and afterwards I realized that I felt confident conducting interviews in Turkish.<img src="https://images.aposto.com/2022/7/5/1659715825728.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.67" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Paul is together with his beloved watch repairmanPhoto: Deniz Sabuncu<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">I would like to sideline Istanbul for a second and ask you about the "musician Paul" and how he continues to produce music throughout his time in Istanbul. You were in a band called "Foton Kuşağı" earlier, which was set to open for New Order in 2013's One Love Festival. Now you, together with Kenan Sharpe and Parham A.G, are in a band called "AŞK". Could you tell us about your music-making journey in Istanbul, and how it compares to music-making in the US?My first friend in Turkey, Onur Güzel, got in touch with me via Myspace in 2007 because he heard one of my old band's recordings and told us he liked it. I happened to be going on my first trip to Istanbul a few weeks later and ended up meeting up with him several times and becoming friends. When I first lived in Istanbul in 2008-09, Onur and I started a group called Taratarama. After moving back in 2011, I started Foton Kuşağı, which was active until 2017. We played in Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Eskişehir as well as 12 shows across Holland, Germany and France in 2013. I've been playing in bands since I was 15 so it's something I have to do wherever I am.Having said that, I did take a hiatus for a few years before starting AŞK at the beginning of this year with Parham and Kenan. It's a loud yet tuneful punk/indie rock trio. We recorded a two-song single that will be released soon, one song is in Turkish and the other is in English. Making music here is considerably more difficult compared to the cities I lived in in the US. There are a limited number of venues for a city of this size, you have to pay by the hour to rehearse in practice spaces and transporting gear can be a nightmare.In the US, I lived in a couple punk houses, one of which I shared with four friends who were all musicians and we had a huge basement where we could rehearse, record, and throw shows and parties, we could cram 60-70 people in there and our neighbors were cool with it despite the noise and would never call the cops. Such a setup is obviously impossible in Istanbul. However, there are lots of people and bands across numerous genres that are making exciting music in the city, and there are plenty of reasons to be enthusiastic about the music scene here despite the financial and logistical difficulties that musicians and concertgoers alike have to deal with.

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