Published
Tue, Apr 6, 2021, 19:04
- "We loved the name for what it meant to us, but in retrospect should have listened more carefully to other voices and acted more quickly," founder Caius Pawson announced today.
London label and club night Young Turks is now officially known as Young.
In a statement today, the team acknowledged that its former name was "a source of hurt and confusion for people." The new title applies to all parts of the organization, including its artist management and publishing arms.
Young founder Caius Pawson clarified that the group's original name came from a Rod Stewart record. "When I first heard the song, it took a week of 2005-era internet searches to find out what it was and even longer to understand its meaning. The name intrigued me, evoking the solidarity of youth. In 2005, it seemed to perfectly sum up what we were: teenagers, wanting and waiting to do something, anything." Pawson added that he was initially unaware of the term's controversial political history but has since understood its damaging impact through ongoing conversations.
The term is considered a direct reference to the 1915 Armenian Genocide. During the early 1900s in the Ottoman Empire, a revolutionary movement called the Young Turks split into factions with some members joining the Committee of Union and Progress, a conservative political party that's considered responsible for the mass killings of Armenians.
"We loved the name for what it meant to us, but in retrospect should have listened more carefully to other voices and acted more quickly," Pawson said in a statement. "We have always tried to affect positive change and knowing what we do now, it's only right that we change our name."
To commemorate the day of the Armenian Genocide on April 24th, Young has also donated an undisclosed amount to the Armenian Institute in London.
The label's current roster includes Daniela Lalita, Ethan P Flynn, FKA twigs, Jamie xx, John Talabot, Kamasi Washington, Koreless, Oliver Sim, Romy, Sampha and The xx.
Read Young's full statement below.