A good introduction how it all started you can find in the notes of Gökhan Aya : (From the LP : "Turkish Delights")
"As with all countries who had their youth revitalised by 60's beat music, Turkish youth was at the crossroads of some multi-paradoxes: while half the nation listened to strictly Turkish traditional musics, the other half had set their to Shadows, Beatles, Animals and the Rolling Stones along with Mediterranean pop music... while the country they lived in was a Muslim country the daily life was no less modern in practice than, let's say, France... and while the daily life was very modern, the family life was conservative and business ethics ware unfortunately still at the hands of a somewhat oriental capitalism. This list of contradictions may be continued but there's no need to that: the music will help you out in understanding.
Turkish rock'n'roll scene started as early as 1956 and blossomed by the arrival of Shadows. It is very important to underline the influence of Shadows because the missing essence which held the rock music from being popular in the first years was the problem of language. As Turkish did not have any roots in relation to English it was really very hard to understand what rock'n'roll was all about. Shadows served very good as the nation was very used to listen to instrumental music. It also should be noted that 60's marked very rapid changes in Turkey: year by year general level of culture was increasing, by 1961 the most democratic period of country started and by every year, as far music's concerned, record sales were geometrically multiplying.
Shadows reigned heavily until the Beatles came along and that blew up everything ! There was such a blasting of bands that one of the biggest national newspapers called Hürriyet decided to organise a big contest that would help the young amateur bands have their names heard throughout the country. But, what the contest organisers wanted was interesting: the musicians who wanted to attend the contest had to either compose songs in Turkish or arrange a traditional tune. Also they had to perform this in a western style with electric western instruments! The ones who ware finalists ware to perform live In many cities that the newspapers arranged a tour for them. If Altin Mikrofon had not been assembled, we wouldn't likely to be talking about 60's & 70's Turkish rock scene.
In the 60's, the youth especially living in big cities were very receptive to new pop music coming from abroad but understandably they also were far from the social impact that this music brought; or we may say a middle-class minority who knew English and who ware following magazines coming from Europe were aware. But meanwhile, there also was an unrest amongst young people which translated into a very exciting political climate though not fed by rock music exclusively.
Of all the musical and sub-cultural scenes that happened in 60's, psychedelia was the most effective one in Turkey. It started one year later than USA and Europe but lasted much longer... Psychedelia end underground music brought a new dimension to Turkish listeners; while the rest of the nation were happy with its oriental overtones, the Turkish music fans found that it was what they felt inside really! So psychedelia influence was at a much different scope than it had on other countries. By 1969 all codes on the birth of a big rock music scene was set and Turkish rock had five more years of kingdom with many sub-types contained within. After 75-76, it took its toll with changing political, musical and social climates and before 1979 came it was all over..."
.."The recording qualities are quite primitive as studios did not have good recordings equipments until mid 70's. Also not many bands found the chance of releasing albums: the scene was a 45 RPM singles dominant scene and due to many reasons they are very rare and very hard to find in good condition, therefore cherishing what we already have would be the most logical to do." Gökhan Aya
