LIST OF IMPORTANT NAMES FOR ANADOLU POP/ROCK : A-K
including links (to my own pages / mostly Turkish Web Sites) :
0-9
21.PERON :
group that evolved out the Izmir College Band. The group succeeded to release their recorded material from 1975-1977 only recently. The style of this LP is the best symphonic progressive rock with some Anadolu Rock touches. See separate webpage on 21.Peron.
3 HÜREL :
3 OZAN :
Don't know if this group is worth checking out.
36 PARALEL :
Don't know if this group is worth checking out.
AGRI DAGI EFSANESI :
legendary side project of Murat Ses with Nejat Teksoy (singer from Mavi Isiklar). They made two singles and an incredible bootleg homerecording. More info at the Murat Ses page.
ALEX :
German musician. Listed here, because his style was called Turkish Rock. Especially his first record and a bit less in his second record (That's the deal) are in a typical Turkish rock style. Members of Can participated in his first two records. His later work, even with a name like Alex Oriental Experience becomes more and more plain rock in the end without leaving any Turkish influences, even when he keeps this middle eastern flavoured band name.
ALI ATASAYAN : solo work from member of Haramiler, often in the same style.
ALI ATASAGUN DÖRTLÜSÜ :
ALMAN LISESI :
School band that won a Milliyet single. English styled psychbeat. See seperate Alman Lisesi page.
ALPAY :
Famous singer. Mostly it's mellow meanstream in style, but I heard a few good singles in Anatolian Pop style. He had a few psych singles (like "Gelin Ayce") with 3 Hürel members. Information can be found on a seperate ALPAY page
ANKARA DENEME LISESI :
College group that won a Milleyet contest single. The recording is very odd, very funny. The "La la la" song has sing along like melodies, but also odd/rhythms and tempo changes that evolve into rock'n roll. Very enjoyable in fact.
APASLAR :
"Apaslar was one of the first real Turkish rock 'n' roll bands, their foundation dating back to late 50's. They joined with the impressive rock vocalist Cem Karaca by 1967 and came in second in the prestigious Altin Mikrofon contest." G.A.
"Apaslar was one of the bands that started out as Shadows clones in the early 60's gaduadly develloped into an innovative instrumental rock band from '67 onwards. Their collaborations with singer Cem Karaca put them up at the top of the Turkish pop charts and also led to great succes in Germany."G.A. & J.D.
ARDA KARDES :
Arda Kardes was a little boy who sang. He did "Mommy Blue" (naïve talk over). "Pis Sinek" is a Doors song. Incredible band, who might even gives a more psychedelic version as the Doors with their 70's freakout Hammond, effects etc., with moments kitchy and funny playing along with the child voice' melody. Very fnny. See separate page with the cover from that single from Arda Kardes.
ASIA MINOR :
They are half Turkish half French. Known for two items in the 70's. Don't mix them up with the Turkish Fusion group (Kamil Erdem) Asiaminor from today's Turkey. The style is 70's progressive. They don't sound Turkish at all. English Web Page at http://www.myndefyre.com/asiaminor/
ATTILA ÖZDEMIROLU
"Still going on making popular music arrangements; Attila Özdemirolu is one of multi sided musicians of Turkey.He has an academic background in music;but his evolution was leaded to more banal and kitsch ways. He began his career with Jupiters and went on with Durul Gence 5, Durul Gence 12, Istanbul Geliim and finally with the "Dün, Bugün,Yarn" Orchestra...Especially in the records that he produced with Dün,Bugün,Yarn he prefered to play Moog synthesizer with his former instruments which were breath and string instruments,while his partner anar Yurdatapan, who was less skillful than him, went on playing his weak bass.... In 1975 Attila Özdemirolu produced a single called "Moog GIR-GIR"..It was used both as a signal music to introduce Dün,Bugün,Yarn at the beginning of the concerts and as a sound track in Turkish Movies...." Munimonde
with single released by CBS, Turkey: "Moog GIR-GIR "
AZIZ AZMET :
He's the first vocalist from Mogollar. He also recorded some singles, like one with Uç Hürel.
B
BARIS MANCO :
"Along with Erkin, Baris Manco is one of the earliest stars of Turkish rock'n'roll whose first public -success dates back to late 5O's. He won scholarship in Belgium Royal Academy in 1963 and went to Belgium to study graphics and art. By the time he was there he was always busy with music and put out records in both Belgium and Turkey. After his collaborations with Les Mistigris and Kaygisizlar. Manço went on to form another band under his name which compromised of multi-national musicians. Best remembered for their fantastic live bluesy underground music." G.A.
"At the time he was studying art in Belgium but returning to Turkey for four or five months each year,. Influenced by the rapid cultural movements occuring at the time in Europe, he realised his own country could be the cultural link between East and West, a link avidly sought by many open-minded Western European thoughts." Gökhan Aya & Jay
Baris Manco is remembered in Turkey for various reasons. His work untill 1980 is interesting. I like him mostly for his, more 70's progressive work like the electronic music driven tracks. After 1980 he became a media figure with less interesting music since then. More information you can find at the 5 seperate Baris Manço pages.
BERMÜDA SEYTAN ÜCGENI :
Not sure if their sole single is worth tracing.
BEYBONLAR :
"In the 60's there were a lot of amateur bands contests. Some of these contests, either big or small awarded their winners by having them put out their own records! They were given whatever amount of money that was promised and were let to release their own record(s). Beybonlar was one of them. They released their sole record by winning a small scale contest and very funnily their eldest member was 18 while the youngest one, their drummer was only 11 ! Hard to believe but it was so ; he played later in famous rock bands when he "grew up" !" G.A.
Cover of single added here.
"The tune 'Nenni' was also included in the 'Turkish Delights' comp. An impressing psychedelic instro venture into the unknown. This is a privately released 45 on the tiny 'Sel' records. Thick groovin' drums with fantastic fuzz wah wah sounds and effects going all the way. 'Nenni' starts with babynoises. This is a true gem from 1967." Turbo lister
BLUE BOYS :
Beat group. This is the same group as Mavi Cocuklar which is the same name, because there were some singles under the "Blue Boy" name too. Single cover added here. Soundfile here Soo also Mavi Cocuklar.
BÜLENT :
Bulent Ortacgil made an album, called "Benimle Oynar Misin" in 1974 which is regarded by Hans Pokora's Record Collector Dreams as being psych folk, where it received 4 stars. Iit's one of the best semi-acoustic releases from Turkey. "This is a mostly calm psych LP with incredible song and lyric writings. Bulent was backed by a team of dynamite musicians like Onno Tunc and Atilla Ozdemiroglu." rbtn -I made a separate page for Bülent.-
BÜLENT YULUG & KORHAN HASCIFTCI :
Early anatolian rock singer who did only one record. I don't know if it's worth to trace. Cover here.
BUNALIMLAR (= Grup Bunalim) :
See Grup Bunalim.
BUNLARIN :
is one of the groups from the progressive Altin Mikrofon label. I don't know anything about them.
C
CAGRISIM :
"There exist an extremely rare single from this unknown Bursa? band or from somewhere in Anatolia. They had the potential to make it big but who were they and where were they from ?" G.A. & J.D.
Great psych organ, el.guitar on that single (from 1972?).
CAHIT OBEN :
"Cahit Oben is a young beatnik whose band was known for "playing Beatles better than the Beatles!". Not a joke, really, his band was one of the most energetic live acts at the time." G.A.
Soundfile "Halimem" (published at Turkish Delights)
CEM KARACA :
Another interesting and most important figure is Cem Karaca, a rocksinger who once blew away all other groups on a festival in the seventies in Frankfurt. He has an incredibly powerful voice. Groups that played with him were Apaslar, Kardaslar and Mogollar. His later group was Dervisan. Nowadays he's touring with Manço's Kurtulan Express.
You can see a few pages with restored covers,links, rare pictures and song information at my Cem Karaca pages
(GRUP) CIGRISIM :
see Tunay Akdeniz. I made a seperate webpage on this Cigrisim group. They were Tunay's first group before it became Grup Bunalim. They made 2 great psych singles.
D
DAGHAN BAYDUR :
I never heard his only record in early Anatolian rock style, so I don't know if it's worth to trace. Can anyone tell me ?
DERVISAN :
I don't know much about this group. Please E-mail me when you do. They played a while with Cem Karaca.
Some pictures provided bu O.D. you can find at the seperate page about Dervisan.
DÜN BUGÜN YARIN :
Not sure if their sole single is worth tracing.
DURUL GENCE ORKESTRASI (DURUL GENCE 5/ 10/ 12) :
I heard one good single in A-Go-Go, Dance oriented popular music style with fantastic organ. The group evolved, also as Durul Gence 10 towards more jazzy approaches. See Durul Gence 5 / 10 / 12 -page.
DÖNUSUM :
They started as a Folk Duo (1970) managed by Ali Eraslan, with Halit Kakinc and Muhtar Turan. They became a trio with Atilla Hunal. They were fab four when music writer Arda Uskan from Hey Music Magazine introduced Oruc Guvenc to the group. "They were popular for a short time in early 70's, experimenting with ancient Ottoman and Central Asian trad instruments." S.K. See seperate page about Dönüsüm.
E
EDIP AKBAYRAM :
Edip Akbayram started with Anadou Rock music, traditional songs with a rock band. Most of the time this ba was Dostlar. He cooperated with other guest musicians, like Murat Ses. His later work sound mainstrea.
You can find more information on seperate page about Edip Akbayram with covers and a few links
EMIN FINDIKOGLU :
Don't know much about it. I think he made gogo jazz. Listen to "Cecen Kizi"
Emin Findikoglu - Cecen Kizi
ERENLER :
Group that made one single in Anadolu Rock style. Single cover here.
ERKIN KORAY :
Most known till now in the rest of the West is Erkin Koray. It came because of a bootleg reissue from Xotic mind in Sweden that collectors became aware of a potential in Turkey. This expensively sold record was recorded from tapes and records, even contained several recording mistakes, but it made us collectors curious towards Turkish music. The way Erkin plays the electric guitar and crosses borders from an advanced rockbeat up until even (ethno-)psychedelica (for some recording he was even called the Turkish Jimmy Hendrix) is undeniable. His early records from the seventies should interest many collectors. But beware for the technically less quality recordings. It's for instance even better to collect the two first above tapes Erkin Koray vol. 1 and 2, while the cd's of it are sometimes badly mastered from the tape-reissues. Erkin's later work is more based upon traditional folk ideas and Turkish Pop. Later attempts to get a good rock group together failed a bit. Winfried told me Erkin magic still appears at moments when situation feels comfortable. Erkin lives in Istanbul mostly, but stayed at many places all over the world (in Canada for 7-8 years, in Paris, in Germany, in Belgium). He visited Tibet, North Africa, Far East, Europe, America....everywhere.. Nowadays he's in Cyprus, for and going Istanbul sometimes for his new album to be released soon. Erkut Tackin : ""I heard he still does a few shows a month in Istanbul; mainly doing club gigs as one man band with ironically often with a kitch keyboard accompany !?" There are some seperate pages made about Erkin Koray, with lots of rare pictures, a complete ? discography and some remarks of Erkin translated into English, and inks to other websites. I expect to include an interview soon. "He was one of the first Rock'n'Roll kings of Turkey, worked with the popular live R&B band Okan Dinçer & Kontrastler." G.A. & J.D. He started with twist and rockn'roll, evolved to a Jimmy Hendrix influenced Anatolian sound, then was influenced by Anatolian music mostly. He also had a period with hardrock band Ter.
ERKUT TACKIN :
is one of the early singers of rock 'n' roll, was a very successful musician, so known as "King of Rock'n Roll" in Turkey. Also people called him the Turkish Elvis, due to his wonderful voice. Early years, (beginning of 60's) he performed by his band, with his friends in Military Service, twist and rock'n roll songs. Then with Durul Gence 5, one of the important bands in Turkey. See Erkut Tackin / Gence 5 / 10 page
EROL BÜYÜKBURC :
The group started with the usual highschool pop, then evolved to an independent group performing commercial ballroom Anatolian slows, with a ridiculous crossover touches, with some nice use of organ. He released various albums I don't believe to be of any particular interest. I heard most of his singles too. Most of it is mellow mainstream song pop. But there still are a few nice exeptions, like a fine single with Üç Hürel. Never the less he's an important figure. Live it was much more progrock/psych than on his records. I made a seperate webpage about Erol'.
ERSEN :
Ersen had some late Anadolu Pop/Rock references in his work (and a short period of cooperation with Mogollar), combined with a more Arabesque singing style. He cooperated mostly with Dadaslar, but he had also some single(s ?) with Kardaslar, and one single with Üç Hürel.
"Ersen was a singer who started his career with Mediterranean dance music, releasing several singles which are quite Spanish-flavored in style, but by 1970 he had joined the burgeoning Anadolu Rock scene. He worked with Mogollar for a short while in 1970 (after their original singer, Aziz Azmet had left the band). Ersen released a moderately successful single backed by 3 Hürel and had a smash hit with "Kozan Dagi" in 1972. He was one of the best Anadolu Rock singer of his time with a softer tone than most contempories." Gökhan Aya & Jay Dobis. He released music from 1968 till the late '80's, but his most interesting period is from 1970-1978. I also liked his more tempered 'Arabesk Rock' with Dadaslar. A seperate page with covers of albums, link to Web pages at the seperate Ersen-page.
ESIN ENGIN :
His "Oriental Belly Dance Music" (1975) not only had an attractive and voloptuous good looking belly dancer on its cover -(different version: cover 2), this is volume 1 of one of best selling LP series among tourists. The music with popularized Anatolian folk of Turkish oriental bellydance music and wedding-house melodies is worth hearing. Photo.
EVKIM GRUBU ve KAMIL GÜREMEK :
Not sure if their sole single is worth tracing.
F
FEN LISESI
They do a weird take on 'With a little help from my friends'. Real crude arrangement and they changed it into a kinda love-ballad between a guy and a girl. See page with Fen Lisesi single
FERDI ÖZBEGEN ORKESTRASI :
Jazzy crossover with fast complex rhythms. Their Altin Mikrofon 65 release you can see at the Altin Mikofon 65 page (Turkish notes added).
FIKRET KIZILOK :
Folk singer with original style and with some progressive moments too. Fikret played guitar with Cahit Oben Dörtlüsü in 1965 before his solo carreer. I have a seperate page with pictures,covers and links for Fikret Kizilok
FIRTINALAR :
("The Storms"). "Calchedon (Kadikoy) was theplace for many musicians during 50s-80s...Many young people in Moda, Kalamis, Baglarbasi formed pop groups instead of becoming rebellious against the system which was going terribly wrong. Simple Graffities were on the walls. But these were not about the activities of "Dev-Sol" or "Socialism". Purely innocent pop groups were trying to get attention in Calchedon. One of them was Firtinalar (The Storms) in Kusdili. The members of "The Storms" were Ali Eraslan, Saim Gokyilmaz, Erol Olcan, Cahit Kadioglu, Bumin Kurtun... Later on Necdet Oztunali (Mikrop Necdet) joined the group, and during the 70s he has been discovered while basking by Philips producer in Holland and recorded his European chart topping song "Lazy lady in the sunshine" in the name of John Tuner. They had a single in Anatolian Pop, called "Havada Bulut Yok" It is a composition of Yemen folk song with guitars, bass, rebab etc. Members of Donusum were playing in this record. In fact the "B" side is considered to be the first ever RAP in the world..." The single was released by Yanki records in 1973, became a hit record in charts, TRT Radio stations broadcasted. Ali Eraslan sang the song on TV with Ajda Pekkan. Info : http://www.tvmdvd.net/history.htm
Some photos of them during 60s where there were talent shows in Istanbul Fitas Cinema and Kadikoy Open Air Theatres... (Like American Idol or X factor today) It was hard to get record deals those days from handful of record companies." : http://www.tvmdvd.net/bnwgallery.htm
G
GALATASARAY LISESI :
School band from rich area that won a single recording on Milliyet contest. It's Shadows like and sung in French.
GÖKCEN KAYNATAN :
"In the early 60's Gökçen Kaynatan undoubtedly had the most popular Rock'n'Roll band in Turkey and had Shadows inspired minor hits, such as "Moda". However, due to his frustration with young band members constantly leaving and returning, resulting in a very inconsistent band, he decided "to make music without human players". Thus, one of the earliest experimental electronic pop musicians of the time started to work, and by the late 60's Gökçen was performing live electronic music concerts in Istanbul. Altough he had done a great deal of recording in this style, they didn't appear on vinyl until 1973." G.A. & J.D.
GRUP BUNALIM :
"His is Turkey's most notorious and dirty psychedelic underground band. They were formed in 1969 with the aim of having underground music reach wider audiences. They couldn't succeed well as their approach was very much wilder and uncompromising than any of their peers at the time; God, they were crazy! Running all nude down the Istiklal Street, psychedelic light shows, crazy paintings all over the stage wall and screaming of "LSD! LSD!" in their live shows. "Tas var köpek yok" is their first single from 1969 when they were very raw in sound and the interrupting guy at the end of the song is none other than Cem Karaca who managed them at the time. Later on Bunalimlar went on to be a psychedelic hard rock band and disbanded by 1972. Their records are in "golden grail" status right now!!! G.A.
The style is very raw psychedelic compairing with other groups from those days. Interesting. They recorded 5 singles only.
"Along with Erkin Koray's Underground Quartet, Bunalim was the band that defined Turkish Underground music. They only cut three singles under heir own name, but also backed some of Turkey's top rock singers on their 'solo' recordings. Their legendary demos in English are lost. Their first single is garage-punk, their second is in a more Anatolian Rock style." G.A. & J.D. After this members of the band formed Ter, a band with Erkin Koray. Some information from this group (with links) you can find at my page about Grup Bunalim.
GRUP STÜDYO GÜNAYDIN :
Not sure if their sole single is worth tracing, because they also participated with Eurovision Festival.
GRUP UYANIS :
Not sure if their sole single is worth tracing.
GURUP SONYA DORES :
Odd vocal driven crossover with Spanish influences. See Altin Mikrfon 65 single.
H
HARAMILER :
"Haramiler was a very demanded live band which was formed in 1966 and had their peak in 1967-68. They (- they entered the 1967 and 1968 Altin Ikrofon contests-) were a hard edged R&B band and as it is true for many bands of that era, they couldn't put out their stage fire on vinyl. " "The band was marketing themselves then as the Turkish counterparts of Artwoods-, The Move and The Spencer Davis Group!" G.A.
THere's a seperate pag about Haramiler with pictures and covers.
HARDAL :
This group was the first new styled group after the Anadolu Pop movement which ended in 1978. They releasd an LP "nasil ne zaman" in 1978 which is reviewed at next page, "Nerden nereye" in 1982. The style of the group's musicians has still in psychedelic rock foundations, but the soft singing style takes the lead so much it becomes often sweet more mainstream melodic pop, a style which will become popular after this. It seems to be that the group is apreciated by collectors, altough myself I'm not too overwhelmed.
HAYALETLER :
If I'm not mistaking I think this was the first school group of Cem Karaca. They published one ? single at Altin Mikrofon.
I
ILHAN MIMAROGLU :
Pioneer of electronic music. " Ilhan Mimaroglu was born in Istanbul in 1926 but went to USA to study composition at Columbia U., but was struck by the possibilities open by new technologies and in the '60 and 70s realized some of the early electronic (non computer) music, with oscillators and tapes. Especially influent was his "Bowery Bum". Given his technical mastery, the Ertegun Brothers (also Turkish, they founded Atlantic records) invited him to act as a producer on several sessions, most notably some of the latest Mingus records, and gave him the chance to run the Finnadar label, dedicated to contemporary and folk music. His Cds are now few and far between, while his original Lps on Vox, Finnadar and Folkways are collectors items. The latest, outsanding warrants, is on the Chicago Southport label." (Franseco Marinelli)
Most of his work is contemporary electronic music in style of other known new American composers (Nono,..). Completely different in style than anything else on this list. Often very difficult music.
ISTANBUL ERKEK LISESI :
"While the Altin Mikrofon contest was very popular end respected, another big newspaper named Milllyet sterled off a new challenge for young hands: High School Bands Contest ! High schools from all over Turkey could take their chances in this contest and finalist bands' records were put out in very limited quantities. Although a garage scene existed In Turkey in the 60's, many bands couldn't get at least one single out duo to countless shitty reasons. So, these high school bands 45's are the best we can have from these hands as they ware net only representing their schools,they were also playing for themselves and had separate special band names ! The "Istanbul Male Lyceum" did this Artwoods (who were very popular in Turkey!) cover which was named "In The Deep End" in their own way !" G.A. Seperate page about Istanbul Erkek Lisesi
ISTANBUL GELISIM :
Pop Rock backing group with one solo LP in 1973. It has a strange mix of pop, mainstream brass, Canterbury, bluesrock, funk, soul, and organ-a-la-Bach with rock band influences. Very European in style. At least very interesting.
IZMIR ÖZEL KARSIYAKA KOLEJI :
"Their record "Over Under Sideways Down / Wild Thing" from 1967 is one of the rarest items ever. This fast cover of the Yardbirds classic took this school from Izmir to play in 1967's finals..." G.A. Audio here. Back cover with group here.
IZMIR KOLEJI :
Beat group that won the Milleyet contest in 1970. There exist a seperate page with info, cover of Izmir Koleji
IZMIR ÖZEL TURK KOLEJI :
Early crossover college group that released a single with the Milleyet label/contest in 1968. This will surely appear on a forthcoming Turkish Delights vol 2 comp. as its a fantastic uptempo garage raver with a great eastern underground atmopshere and good staccato guitar riffs. Almost as US eastern psych garage.
J
K
KADIKÖY TICARET LISESI :
College group that won a Milleyet contest single, "L.S. and D" / "Sexy Girl",with Cream, Steve Winwood / Eric
Clapton / Jimmy Hendrix influences. "Sexy Girl" could be a different "Foxy Lady" version.
KANAT GÜR ORCHESTRA : with
"One of the best vocal bands of 60's, and an unusual sound, Turkish music in jazz forms and vocals. A nice and rare early Turkish Jazz sample." S.Fiye Their '65 Altin Mikrofon release you can see at my Altin Mikrofon '65 page. It surely is a weird crossover of contemporary jazz, Anatolian elements, not sure if it's good or not because of the poor single quality I heard.
KARDASLAR :
One of the groups that played with Cem Karaca. They had a solo career too. See at the Cem Karaca page.
KAYGISIZLAR :
After his divorce from Les Mistigris Baris Manço hooked up with Kaygisizlar, which was formed before he joined in. At the time they made their first records, they were straddling the line between being a half R&B/soul band and a half psychedelic band." G.A. Some information you can ind on the Baris websites.
Kaygısızlar was first formed by Barısh and Mazhar Alanson, Fuat, and it was reformed in the 80's Mazhar and Fuat with the addition of Erkin's ex-bassist Özkan, at that time presenting Turkey 2 times in Eurovision. Only the first period will interest collectors.
KENT YEDILISI :
They made an Altin Mikrofon 1966 release. "Mühür Gözlüm" is an odd combination of styles (broadway brass, psych organ, anatolian ?,pop,jazz piano,..) ;"Kara Kasli Haticem" begins with brass again, and has an odd ska like energy, a bit (over)loaded. You can find their single with a bit information at the groups from Altin Mikrofon 1966 page.
KONTLAR :
Don't know if this group is woth checking out. I guess they're ok 60s styled. See seperate page on Kontlar
KORAY OKTAY :
He was the guitarist/singer for many beat / R&B bands of the 60's-among them Erkin Koray, Haramiler and Cahit Oben. He cut his solo single in 1969 just before his departure in 1969 just before his departure to Germany to study Architecture." G.A. & J.D. Single here
KURTALAN EXPRESS :
important group who worked with Baris Manço for years (during his last progressive period), and with Cem Karaca more recently. See pictures of the band during the Manco period at the Kurtalan Express page.
