ILA

After a show at Ik Zie U Graag 2025 and a European tour, ILA returns to MEZZ in Breda in 2026. The band around Turkish-Belgian singer-songwriter Ilayda Cicek released their second album 'Motherland' in October, produced by Mikko Gordon (Idles, The Smile). It is the first album ILA wrote as a four-piece band: at the end of October they travelled to Turkey with a suitcase full of guitar demos, where Cicek developed a large part of the lyrics.

'Motherland' draws on influences from Cicek's father, natural elements, and the idea that people live with missing pieces. The story begins with her father, who flew from Turkey to Belgium in the late 1980s, leaving behind his family, his city and his language. The track 'Deniz' (Turkish for sea) is based on a poem by her father about the sea as a metaphor for perseverance and resilience.

The album sounds recognizably like ILA, but grander, more ambitious and more layered than the debut.