'ANADOLU POP' AND PROGRESSIVE CROSSOVERS FROM TURKEY -A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE- Historically Turkey is considered as the meeting point between the West and the East. Therefore the Bosporus Bridges now and then are used as a symbol of this from the perspective of Europe. But Turkey once was one of the most important Empires in the World, connected with a rich and highly developed Islamic, Byzantine and Persian music culture (don't the forget Ottoman Anatolian population spoke Greek up until the beginning of 17th century) with a curiosity towards other cultures and adapting whatever was interesting, and with a certain variety of different opinions within the Islamic culture itself (including the spiritual Sufi movement). Anatolia was one of those areas that since the 11th century had become the most important area for a crossover of styles and cultures. The folk music from that area was already then influenced by neighboring countries, still with its own recognizable and unique character. Musical relations between Turkey and the rest of Europe can be traced back many centuries. The martial music of the Ottoman janissaries, the Sultan's elite corps, had a significant impact on European composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. This influence is known to have affected composers such as Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Berlioz described this tradition as "The colorization of rhythm". The European military bands in the 18th century not only introduced their percussion instruments but were dressed in Turkish costume also, with a similar development in the opposite direction in the 19th century for the Ottoman Army bands. At that time Gaetano Donizetti's brother Giuseppe became master of Music for the Sultan in 1827 and was later given the title of pasha, thus becoming know as 'Donizetti Pacha'. There he became the founder of the imperial fanfare beside he was also know for his marches. -INDEPENDENCY, AND THE BIRTH OF ROCK'N ROLL : 1923-1965- Although the influence of martial music is clear for Europe, there was not much musical activity amongst the ordinary citizens ; there was no proper middle class with any related activity to connect such fusing interests with regional folk traditions. The upper class music was merely entertainment. It took until the proclamation of the republic in 1923 for a proper national school of composition to take shape. Turkey itself might have still been more associated with the Arabian world than being connected with the European area. The political leader Kemal Ataturk in 1923 changed this perspective of Turkey and towards Turkey. He wanted to connect Turkey much more to the West. Therefore he adapted all useful cultural aspects from the West. The Arabian writing was replaced by Latin in 1928. While smaller areas were less (intellectually) affected by such changes, cities like Ankara at first, Istanbul and Izmir were centers of some progressive developments. In these cities there were some experiments with a variety of styles and influences. Where waltz was assimilated before in the 19th century in higher class, Tango was the first foreign style to be fully adapted. In the mid '50's the first pop and rock oriented bands were mostly army bands lead by officers from the Turkish army. These bands played mostly twist and rock'n roll. Starting as a bit of a joke they used now and then Turkish instruments instead, or they played Anatolian melodies, with some success. (Also Baris Manço started making twist in his early days ; his name will be mentioned again at a later date). From After 1960 when such bands became more popular there were people who feared the rich historical character of Turkey would be lost and replaced and therefore wished to encourage the bands to play mostly the Anatolian music. The first crossover bands were mainly under heavy influence of groups like the Shadows. This UK band had various gigs in Turkey. They played instrumental music more easily understood by Turkish people. In the 60's 2 magazines were very popular that informed and encouraged the existing music scene : Hürriyet, as the most conservative and preserving one, and Milleyet as the more progressive one. Hürriyet decided to organize a big contest that would help the young amateur bands have their names heard throughout the country, mostly to encourage the Anatolian Pop style. This contest asked for bands to play Anatolian music only, but with Western instruments, giving very fine but also ridiculous combinations. The winners were allowed to press a single. Not all singles which were released were very interesting or progressive, but there still are many very interesting crossovers. Most bands were in fact schoolbands at first, but various bands recordings stand out very well. Thanks to this contest the music was preserved and recorded and lots of the bands finally could claim some popularity. None of these bands envisaged an international public, but various bands sound quite unique for the Turkish bands have a lot more interesting percussion and at least an equal energy compared to for instance the British bands of those days. The recording qualities were quite primitive as studios did not have much in the way of good recordings equipment until mid 70's. Also not many bands had the chance of releasing albums: the scene was a singles dominant scene and for many reasons they are very rare and very hard to find in good condition. Hardly any band made a full LP. -THE 60'S BANDS- Siluetler was one of those bands who made a full LP in 1967. The LP was re- released on tape in Bulgaria (to be ordered at lavrentiiberia@dir.bg). Siluetler is Turkish for silhouette, but the name is clearly derived from The Shadows. The band uplifted Turkish Rock'n'roll and is one of more powerful examples of Turkish Rock music blending traditional music with rock. Also Apaslar started as one of the other Shadows clones but evolved into one of the better examples of real early Turkish rockn'roll. Their rock vocalist Cem Karaca would stand longer in musical history for various reasons. When the Beatles finally visited Turkey this group and with them the beat music became popular too. In Turkey half of the people still listened to traditional music, but bands like The Shadows, Beatles, Animals and the Rolling Stones along with Mediterranean pop had its equal impact. London was mostly considered as the Mecca of Popular Music. Of course this has also to do with marketing which was centered in London. But also various American bands had their influence, like Jimmy Hendrix for instance. If Erkin Koray had been marketed like Jimmy Hendrix people would have recognized his musical importance. I once heard a bootleg from a concert given in 1974 (live in Nazilli) where Erkin played incredible guitar solos reminiscent of a Turkish equivalent for Jimmy Hendrix. Such recordings sadly never made it onto LP. Erkin Koray's early period of rockn'roll is also very enjoyable. Most of his singles were released on vol.1 and 2. His first two albums were his most progressive ones. His electric guitar highpoint was around '74. Unfortunately not many recordings were made then. "Elektric Türk" was luckily remastered and reissued on Nexus-Records. Erkin's finest work "2" Erkin still refuses to give permission for reissuing. Later more (Anatolian) folk was adapted into his music. One of the sixties band I still have to mention is Mavi Isiklar. They had a rereleased LP with Nexus Records and a CD reissue of poorer quality but with nice booklet, at Ada Müzik recently.° From mid '60's till end '60's various people started to follow the evolution in the music scene which derived influences from some other countries in Western Europe. Psychedelic music coming from the US and Europe had an extra impact on the Turkish scene. The effects therein used, were adapted in the music of the local pop groups. We can see the birth of rock music and have some interesting progressive releases also. Still in the sixties some singers composed original music completely based upon Turkish folk. A fine example is Fikret Kizilok. The original folk song "Haberin Var Mi" was accompanied with a rock band. His album "Not Defterimdem" recorded 1968-1970 is highly original. It's a very personal and original document with spoken word/ singing, experimental piano, and acoustic guitar folk, in an introverted somewhat esoteric but in a very sensitive way. Some songs from Mazhar ve Fuat (later MFÖ, Mazhar, Fuat & Özkan) with duo male/female vocals had also a beautiful acid folkrock feel reminiscent in mood with UK examples. 3 (or Uç) Hürel are also worthy of mention for their Anatolian Pop style, and very good percussion. Their 2 first records were re-released for the world market. I always preferred their second one. Also Edip Akbayram with pure Anatolian style was backed (for instance on "Bosu Bosuna") by very good rock musicians (Dostlar ?). Mogollar (deriving from Siluetler and Selçuk Alagöz) were in fact one of the more intellectual bands amongst the rest (with the same impact as for instance Pink Floyd had in the UK). It was Murat Ses who invented the term 'Anadolu Pop' thus launching the existing scene into a defined area. They experimented with early psychedelica, and combined it with ethnomusical ideas on their first album. The wonderful electric bass of Taner Ongur on ANADOLU POP (vol. 1) was for me in fact the launch of a never ending interest for Turkish progressive music. This first album was re-released by Winfried Schlögel's label Nexus-Records. Later the more tempered 'Hittit Sun' or Düm-Tek album was rereleased. Mogollar played with lots of other musicians and singers later on. Baris Manço, Erkin Koray, Cem Karaca, Mogollar had their first successes with their singles. -PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENTS IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES- In the seventies a few other European countries played their roll in exploiting progressive sounds from Turkey. Germany played a big part there. In Germany most of the more intellectual elite of Turkey emigrated. Several concerts (like in Frankfurt ?) were organized with Turkish rock musicians (like Cem Karaca,..). (P.S. Baris Manço lived partly in Belgium before too and recorded some singles with the Belgium band Les Mistigris). Foreign groups that had an impact in Turkey were still The Beatles, Rolling Stones,but also Led Zeppelin, Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd. According to Sarp Keskiner "most of the musicians were into hard rock or blues rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Ten Years After and stuff like that. For example legend bass guitar players like Taner Ongur (Mogollar, Erkin Koray, Kardaslar) or Ahmet Guvenç (Baris Manco & Kurtalan Ekspres, Erkin Koray). Or guitar players like Erkin, Feridun Hürel, Cahit Kukul (Meteor, Hardal, Erkin Koray) and Cahit Berkay (Mogolar) followed that route. The other clan can be described as "funky" as they have references like Temptations, James Brown, Quincy Jones, Rare Earth, Stevie Wonder and Isaac Hayes. Baris Manço and Ersen worked with those people. But Baris also had a chance of working with the best keyboard players around like Kilic Danisman, Turhan Yukseler and Murat Ses. Those keyboard masters were following people like Jimmy Smith, Big John Patton but also prog bands like ELP, Procol Harum, Yes, King Crimson." Ersen did record some very fine EP's with Kardaslar and Dadaslar. He had started his career with Mediterranean dance music, released some Spanish-flavored singles, and since 1970 joined the Anadulo Rock scene. He had worked with Mogollar, 3 Hürel and others. His soft voice with Arabesk touches is beautiful. He made an album "Arabesk Rock" to confirm the combination of Anadolu Pop with Soft Rock and Arabesk singing. -THE POLITICAL CHANGES FROM '75-> '80- After 75-76, there was a lot of political change and the musical openness in music started slowly to fade. The few most advanced recordings still to be released after then could only be released because these musicians kept themselves some distance from the political and social climate. Some LP's and singles by Baris Manço from around this period were paradoxally amongst his most interesting work. '2023' (on 29th October 2023 Turkey will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic) from 1975, was already a progressive collector's item, (and according to Munimonde) used string synthesizers , Hammond Watkings Phaser, and an early model of Korg. Variations and developments of ideas therein can be found on the LP "Yeni Bir Gün" (1979) : as "2024" and on the LP "Sozum Meclisten Disari" : "2025" but also in the instrumental moog ? track "Hamburger". Manço worked here together with electronic magician Gökçen Kaynatan famous for his early experiments with electronic equipment. Although some more good tracks can be found around this period Manço got involved in social projects, and he became an extremely popular TV presentator and producer. His music became uninteresting because now he gave his life mostly as an arranger to bring different groups of people and opinions together in peace (his name means peace) giving him wideworld awards and appreciation. There has been a politic camp all along during the 70's which put Mogollar, Cem Karaca and Selda on the left wing; with Ersen at the right wing and Baris Manco mostly in the middle : Baris kept a distance and became involved as negociator from within the right wing. Ersen who began to perform for army parties and police balls started to work with tavern musicians and his musical career came to a bitter end. Cem Karaca has an extremely powerful voice and an energy to convince. A lot of songs are worth hearing by anyone even if you don't understand a word of Turkish. Only some songs are a more typical Turkish song style and less convincing the first time you hear them. Beside various early singles his most progressive work is the symphonic singer-songwriter rock piece with Edirdahan : 'Safinaz' with socialist inspired songs. Various such protest songs trying to encourage people to think instead of reacting automatically out of conservative instinct were not appreciated by the government. In 1979 he had to stay in Germany as a refugee until his amnesty in 1987. Nowadays he's back touring again with Manço's band Kurtulan Express. I have no clue what it sounds like now. Another protest singer worthy of mentioning is Selda Bagçan. She released various beautiful singles in the early seventies (some with Mogollar,..). Her voice is captivating and powerful too. The style is Anatolian. Her 1975 album accompanied a psychedelic rock band is worth a reissue some day. -THE BIRTH OF ARABESQUE MUSIC AND CHEESY POP : THE MUSICAL WORLD AFTER 1980- After immigration from village people to the cities the different less intellectual conditions, fitting with this new kind of music which was a mixture of pop, folk, traditional music and Arabian sounding singing and instrumentation. Starting with Orhan Gencebay Arabesque Music became highly popular, but I believe most examples are popular music mostly. I don't know many examples which have a progressive sound like Anadolu Pop. From Orhan some singles should be extremely interesting, where he used sitar, ..I only have 'Leyla Ile Mecnun', where some nice electric Baglama solo's are combined with a beautiful Arabian mood and beautiful voice. Orhan made a lot of filmmusic. He worked a few times with Erkin Koray. The pure Turkish pop music which we know today has its own style but is in fact mostly pretty cheesy, very mainstream and cannot be of interest for any progressive music listener. Arabesque music had its origin in both oriental and western commercial music. In '78 it was all over. No gigs were possible any more, most of the whole Anatolian movement faded away. After the military coup 1979 it would take many years for Turkey to recover from the limitations this brought. People long hereafter are often still judging the Anadolu Pop music period something like : "if it failed and did not survive it means it's better forgotten as being not interesting enough" or something like that. In the memory of the survivors it was neglected. The new growing youth did not had the experience and nobody ever talked about it again. Even nowadays there still is little interest. Freedom of expression was regained in the American way of mainstream marketing (somewhat egodriven music, popular tunes, hard commercial beats and instruments used only to dress the song without exploring musical possibilities did not lend itself to openness or challenging musical music. The cities were not the same cities as in the 60's and the beginning of seventies ; lots of country people emigrated to the cities in search of work without having an intellectual openness. -A NEW ELITE OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK GROUPS : FROM 1995-> NOW- It took until 1995 before some groups (this time an intellectual elite, mostly from Istanbul) tried to make something else than music for commercial purposes. Some of the first were Zen and Ithayaç Molasi. Zen made very experimental improvising music with mostly acoustic instruments, very Faust like. Only their last two albums are much more psychedelic rock in a very convincing way. From these two I only have "Tanbul" from 1997, and I think it's one of the best starters of the new generation. Ihtiyaç Molasi brings a good combination of folk, a chamber music rock (or very composed rock also known as RIO) and pop. Lots of the more interesting groups had their release on the Ada Müzik label who also made two compilations from which the second one 'Sesimizi Yükseltiyoruz !', from 1999, gives a very good overview of these groups. Out of Zen came Baba Zula with a more modern sound with their improvisations with ethnical touches. A group with similarities with the later Zen group is Replikas who have made 2 wonderful CD's already. The latest one is most consistent in style, with a very modern production. Nekropsi is a band which succeeds in combining a more metal progressive sound with moody passages and Middle eastern touches. Many more really progressive groups I don't know. Istanbul Blues Kumpanyasi is also an original group led by Sarp Keskiner, playing incredible combinations of boogie, Middle Eastern rock, blues and psychedelica. Just one other worthy of mention from this point of view is 2/5 BZ, an underground group with a 80's tape collage feel, middle eastern rock collages, but with punk energy, highly appreciated by UK DJ John Peel. One great demo which most probably will be released soon is by Fairuz Derin, a group with definite references to progressive music in the seventies, with Hammond, funky and jazzy touches, some Anatolian melodies but with a garage energy. Promising is also the group Bonus Track with a hard middle eastern acid rock sound. Also worthy to mention is a group, Finnish people will be able to see live very soon : the German/Turkish band Divan. They play underground rock with Anatolian Touches. Live they perform dressed as Sultans. -A FEW REMARKS- Also a must to mention is the half Turkish half French music group Asia Minor who recorded 2 albums in the seventies. This group is completely different in style than all I mentioned before. Their style fits more to the European 70's progressive music scene. Their releases, re-released by Musea Records. -HISTORY OF REDISCOVERING- Only thanks to some collectors the forgotten sound of Turkish crossover Pop was rediscovered. At first some remarks from 'Incredibly Strange Music' collectors, the illegal reissue of Erkin Koray's singles and first LP track on an LP called 'Electric Türk'? people began to wonder what else happened in Turkey. Winfried Schlögel in Frankfurt reissued various interesting collector's items. I happened to discover the groups one by one by tapes and cd's already sold by Winfriend Schlögel. And I started to make some radioprograms in Antwerpen on Radio Centraal, with my first discoveries. Later I heard there were others spreading the word and contributing in making this music more known to the world, like Jay Dobis who worked on the fantastic 'Hava Nargile' compilation, mostly with short progressive music tracks. Sadly the recordings were not professionally filtered. But never the less it's still the most important document. Secondly 'Turkish Delights' by obscure and incredibly strange crossovers collector Marthy J.Coumans did the earlier period with mostly Turkish garage and beat. A new volume will come later. In Turkey Gökhan Aya is known for his contribution in collecting and promoting Anadolu Pop. And in the US there's Jay Dobis of course who's involved in the growing interest in Turkish progressive music. -CROSSOVER JAZZ AND FUSION- Beside progressive music Turkish Jazz Fusion should be worth discovering too, and I have made my first steps in exploring. I believe there must be an interesting scene in Istanbul. In the seventies percussionist Okay Temiz became the most famous Turkish fusion musician, who worked with Don Cherry, Roman Bunka and various other artists. Some of the new artists with interesting releases are mentioned on my webpage (like many artists from the professional Fusion label Double Moon Records). This article could only have been written with help and information provided by others. I am not such a specialist myself. In this way I would like to thank Ozan Durmus, Savas Manço, Murat Ses, Taner Ongur, Winfried Schlögel, Sarp Keskiner, Hakan Tuna, Peter Holt, Ender Ayanoglu, M.J.Coumans (and Lawrence Woolfe for the editing). More information on Turkish progressive you can find at my website at www.radiocentraal.be/psychevanhetfolk ** The group had a come back a few years ago, with successes in Germany,... ° The group had its comeback some years ago, with possibly not the same musical quality but with success. °°(Of course there must be some Kurdish influences in music too, but I am not that specialised). Gerald Johan Van Waes