Tag: Turkey

“Sinema” (2006) – Cahit Berkay * Written and produced by Cahit Berkay * CD: Homegrown Istanbul Vol. 1 * Label: Kolaj Müzik

The line between Turkish folk, pop and rock is blurry enough that the effort to make strict distinctions can feel academic. This speaks highly of the distinctiveness of Turkish musical traditions and the persistence of practitioners like Cahit Berkay, one of the 1967 founders of the influential group Moğollar. The sounds of the saz, darbuka, kanun, kemence and kaval all travel freely across Turkey’s musical highways as vehicles for creative expression thanks to those of Berkay’s mindset. His own efforts possibly stand out among legends such as fellow band member Cem Karaca, Erkin Koray and others because of his long career as a film composer, with over 200 projects under his belt. There’s an element of “stepping away” in a busy film composer’s career, though, that encourages, perhaps, a reliance on diluted texture over substance. Music first created for its own merits is inevitably of a higher potency than a commissioned soundtrack, which is more a commentary on differences in media than it is a criticism of Berkay.

“Sinema” appears on a compilation called Homegrown Istanbul that favors roots-oriented musicianship over popular vocals. It showcases Berkay’s track in fuller form than previously found as the soundtrack lead theme for a 2005 Turkish version of Cinema Paradiso called Sinema Bir Mucizedir (cinema is magic). Yes, it’s magic, but music is more so.

Austin Texas-based accordionist and vocalist Shirley Johnson has Croatian roots, but she’s a specialist in many an international idiom. Her new album Dancing Angels includes a collaboration with fellow Austinite Oliver Rajamani (vocals and oud), on which she sets the accordion down, picks up her prim, and duets with him on a Bosnian Sephardic wedding song called “Yo Hanino Tu Hanina” (I’m handsome, you’re beautiful). Those vocals, along with the dancing strings, make this an addictive listen. They’re singing in Ladino, the nearly-extinct language of the Sephardic Jews who have populated a region of the world from Bosnia to North Africa to Turkey. You’ll hear its close linguistic relationship to Spanish.

“Lambaya Puf De!” (1973) – Barış Manço * Traditional arrangement of “kolbasti” song by Osman Pehlivan * 45: “Lambaya Puf De!” / “Kalk Gidelim Küheylan” * Produced by Barış Manço * Label: Yavuz Plak

A celebrated rock ‘n’ roll pioneer in Turkey, Barış Manço essentially took his culture’s wandering minstrel tradition, grew its hair out, put rings on its fingers, and plugged it in. His “Lambaya Puf De” is a sexy hypnosis single from 1973 that translates to something like “blow the lamp out by going ‘poof’.” Turkish radio declared it too erotic-sounding for airplay, which prompted him to release an  instrumental version with kazoo and jaw harp in 1975 called “Tavuklara Kışt De” (say kshh to the chicken). Manço adapted the song from a melody popularized by the tanburist Osman Pahlivan called “Anadolu Kaşık Havası,” which has since surfaced with some regularity in recorded Turkish folk music. The label lists the song as a “kolbastı” dance song. That’s an acoustic Turkish saz you hear sizzling from start to finish.

“Adimiz miskindir bizim” (1973) – Mazhar and Fuat * Written by Yunus Emre and Mazhar Alanson * LP: Türküz Türkü Çağırırız! * Label: Yonca

This alluring Turkish folk-rock song’s Sufi-tinged title translates to “they call us mystics,” with the first verse approximating the following: “We’re called mystics, our enemy is called malice. We hold no grudges because all creation is one.” Mazhar Alanson and Fuat Güner would eventually add a third member, Özkan Uğur, which turned them into the more commercially successful MFÖ. Although their stage presence and instrumentation became wholly Eurovision-friendly (they represented Turkey in 1985 and 1988), their taste for mystic subject matter never fully abated.