Despite facing numerous hardships and hurdles, the all-woman Turkish band Marla has managed to transform their childhood fancies into a concrete future plan. This has brought together five exceptionally talented women who rock the stage with their hard-hitting music.
The five women – all in their 20s – found each other online and eventually took the stage together after three years: Esra Hasandayıoğlu on bass, Ekin Gülmez and Burcu Özbek on guitars, Büşra Vanlıoğlu on drums and Tuğce Kaymaz on vocals.
The band’s name came from the iconic fictional character Marla Singer from the 1996 novel “Fight Club” by American novelist Chuck Palahniuk.
Both the novel and the character shot to global fame with director David Fincher’s 1999 cult hit of the same name, with British actor Helena Bonham Carter playing the role of Marla.
For Marla’s members, at a point, the band was a “fantasy.”
“It was a fantasy we rarely saw around us. Actually, all of us had dreamed of being in it since childhood,” the band said in an email interview with Anadolu Agency (AA) ahead of National Girlfriends Day, celebrated annually on Aug. 1 in the U.S., to appreciate the existence of true women friends.
Over time, this “transformed from a mere dream into a future plan and brought our paths together,” they added.
The musicians emphasized how all-women bands represent a “dedication to include women in the music industry.”
“This dedication requires us to constantly connect, support, work with and seek and find female musicians, which is sometimes hard in a way, but very rewarding in the end,” the band said.
They said every all-women band is more than willing to work for the cause of women’s empowerment.
“We are trying to increase the visibility and uplift the talent of woman musicians in a male-dominated world,” the group said.
All of Marla’s members stressed that being an all-women band has its own share of challenges and upsides.
The dynamics of a male-dominated industry meant “there were times when we struggled to accept ourselves,” but “our unwavering determination helped us shift the focus away from the perception of being a gender-based group and placed it on a more positive ground.”
“We cannot say it was easy,” the band said, explaining how initially, men at their concerts would be more interested in their looks rather their musical talents.
Yet, Marla’s performances have won over the strongest of skeptics.
The band members said their conversations with men, from organizers to music directors and concert-goers, were almost identical in the early part of their journey, “more focused on meeting the visual satisfaction of the audience.”
“However, our current communication with the same individuals has shifted towards emphasizing our performance rather than our appearance,” the band said.
Alongside the challenges, many moments have made Marla’s struggles worthwhile.
“After a concert, a female audience member approached us and expressed her pride in being a woman. In another city, a few female friends got inspired by us and formed their own band,” the band said.
“We find it incredibly precious to touch someone’s life, even in a small way and make them feel good.”
The band members said they are “women with different personalities, appearances and skills,” who came “together ... both on stage and in our social lives, finding a cohesive common ground.”
“This project has offered us a joyous opportunity for productive and sharing-based connections,” the band said.
