Heading east out of Ankara we head to the town of Şarkışla, where on of Turkey's most famous folk poets Âşık Veysel was born in 1894. He lived there all his life and died in 1973. Also born in this town was in 1945 was singer and actress Emel Sayın, although she subsequently moved around the country quite a bit. She sings classical Turkish music, later also incorporating film music and acting in her career. Here's a song called Yağdır Mevlam Su, which features on her 2007 album Sizlerle (Sevgisiz Yaşayamam):
Moving north to the coastal city of Samsun on the Black Sea coast, where we meet baglama virtuoso, composer and singer Orcan Gencebay who was born in 1944. He is of Crimean Tartar descent and was named State Artist of Turkey in 1998. He combines Arabesque music with more contemporary elements, including pop, folk and rock. Here is the title track from his 2024 album Hatasiz Kul Olmaz with some helpful German subtitles:
We haven't had any Anatolian rock for a while, so next we are heading to the Black Sea city of Trabzon, where 1970's Anatolian rock band 3 Hür-El hail from. Founded in 1970 by the three 3 Hürel brothers with Feridun on a double-necked electric guitar and saz. They became one of the most popular Psychedelic rock bands in Turkey at the time. In 1977 they disbanded as 2 of the brothers were called into military service and at the same time losing their mother to a tragic road accident. They briefly reformed in the late 1990's and recorded about 4 albums during their 2 stints. Some of their material is now being re-released by German label Turkish vinyl, such as their self-titled 1972 album. Here is a live performance of their song Sevenler Ağlarmış during their peak in 1974.
As we carry on following the coastal road eastwards we come to the town of Çayeli, where folk singer Ayşenur Kolivar was born in 1976. She has been part of the Istanbul ensemble Kardeş Türküler and other bands, but also has a successful solo career. She specialises on the folk traditions of the eastern Black Sea region. Here is a song from her 2011 album Bahceye Hanimeli called Getma:
The traditional music of Turkey's Black Sea region is different from the rest of the country and shares more resemblances with some Bulgarian mountain music, including the use of the bagpipe or tulum as the local version is known as. So we take a short hop and a skip to the village of Kestanelik, where tulum player Emin
Yağci was born in 1965. Sadly he died of cancer last year. He is recognised as one of the masters of the instrument and here is a track from his 2011 album Tulum (A Sound from the Black Sea) called Ey Gidi Karlı Dağlar:
That's it from Turkey for the moment, next we are going on a 3 country excursion of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia before returning to finish of the south-eastern part of Turkey. In the meantime you can follow my virtual musical road trip on my tripline map.
