Türkiye - The Southeast & Northern Kurdistan

As we re-enter Türkiye, we also enter the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan.  There are no strictly defined borders to Kurdistan, but the ethnic group of Kurds are spread around south-eastern Türkiye, northern Iraq, north-western Iran and northern Syria.  They have their own music, culture and language and have for decades fought an on-going conflict to gain independence and/or greater autonomy within current national borders.  The PKK on the Turkish side has just announced a ceasefire as I write this.

First stop is a quick flying visit to Kars, where Metin Demiral of the band Café Türk spent part of his childhood.  We have met him previously in Switzerland, where his band was based, and you can check it out here.

Moving on to the village of Kiğı, where singer and tembur player Ali Doğan Gönültaş was born in the mid-1980's to a Kurdish family.  He showed early musical promise, and the family soon moved to Istanbul, where young Ali went on to study Archaeology and Cinema.  He joined various ensembles playing Kurdish music, before going solo and has toured internationally to great acclaim.  Here is a song from his 2022 album dedicated to his home town Kiğı called Entercîme:

Kurdish singer and musician Aynur Doğan was born in the small mountain town of Çemişgezek in 1975.  In 1992 she fled the conflict zone to Istanbul, where she faced bans for 'promoting division', discrimination and abuse for singing in Kurdish and even threats from right-wing and anti-Kurdish militia, which in turn led her to emigrate to the Netherlands.  Her stunning vocal style infuses traditional Kurdish folk with contemporary western influences and jazz.  She has become a vocal representative for the Kurdish people.  Here is a song from her 2024 album Rabe (Stand up or rise up) called Rabe Edlayê:

Wikipedia seems to be very confused about the birth place of singer and actress Bülent Ersoy.  It agrees with itself that she was born in 1952, but according to the English version she was either born in Siirt or Malatya, both in eastern Anatolia, but over 400km apart, and according to the Turkish version she was born in Istanbul.  We'll stick to Malatya, as it's the first place that comes up when you google her.  What is also not in question is that she was born and started performing as a man.  In 1981 she underwent gender alignment surgery in London, which got her banned under the military government at the time, who were trying to crack down on 'social deviance'.  Nowadays she is one of the most popular singers in Türkiye, known as Diva by her fans' singing in the Turkish Classical and Arabesque style.  Here is one of her biggest hits called Ümit Hırsızı (Hope Thief):

Kurdish wedding musician Tufan Derince was born in Diyarbakir in 1987. Now based in Rotterdam he plays an electrified baglama and performs at weddings around Europe and Turkey and has even appeared at an NPR Tiny Desk concert.  If you are not familiar with Kurdish wedding music, it's a bit like Jimi Hendrix on steroids and reincarnated in Kurdistan.  It's quite mind-blowing! I can't find any music recorded by him, but take in this short NPR concert and watch them bouncing up and down the sofa:

Also born in Diyarbakir in 1952 is Sufi musician Kudsi Ergüner for something a lot calmer.  He is considered a master of Mevlevi Sufi music, the branch of Sufism that was founded in Eastern Anatolia by the followers of the Persian poet Rumi. Ergüner is one of the best players of the Turkish Ney flute.  He produced a huge volume of recorded music and has collaborated with many different artists worldwide, including Peter Gabriel.  Here is a sample of his music and a fascinating snippet of how he chooses a reed to make his flute:

 

Just a hop and a skip away is the village of Urfa, where oud player Mehmet Polat was born in 1981.  Trained in Anatolian folk and Ottoman classical music, he has developed his own technique for a more contemporary sound incorporating his instrument in jazz ensembles.  He is now based in the Netherlands.  Here is the title track from his 2023 album Embodied Poetry:

Kurdish singer/songwriter Olcay Bayir was born in Gaziantep near the Syrian border, but she won't reveal her age.  As a teenager she moved to London with her family, where she went on to study operatic singing. She soon realised she preferred to give voice to the traditional music of her homeland.  She very much gives a contemporary twist to the music of the wider Anatolian region, singing in multiple languages, including Kurdish, Turkish, Armenian and Greek.  Her 2014 debut album Neva / Harmony was met with great critical acclaim.  Here is a song from that album called Melamet Hirkasi:

Finally we hit the Mediterranean coast once again in the city of Adana, where multi-instrumentalist and composer Omar Faruk Tekbilek was born in 1951.  He was an early musical protégé when he started working at his uncle's music store in exchange for music lessons.  He began with playing the kaval, a small diatonic flute, moved on to the Ney flute, the zurna, an oboe-like double reed instrument and finally the baglama and the oud.  At the age of 12 he turned professional and at the age of 16 he moved to Istanbul with his brother, where they became sought after session musicians.  In the 1970's he began touring internationally and on a tour of the USA he met his future wife and stayed there in 1976.

His influences initially were very much the folk music of Anatolia, but after discovering Sufism and after an encounter with electronic musician Brian Keane he really found his own style combining Sufi music and Anatolian instruments with contemporary electronic ambient sounds, for which he is known to this day.  Here's a track from his 2016 album Love Is My Religion called Barefoot Dervish:

That concludes our virtual tour of Türkiye, next we are slowly making our way west again, beginning with a quick hop over to Cyprus.  In the meantime, as usual, you follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.

Türkiye - Eastern Anatolia & the Black Sea Coast

 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. 

Türkiye - Ankara

 

Amkara Castle.  Photo credit: By Bernard Gagnon - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37705866

We arrive in Ankara, the capital city of Türkiye in the geographical centre of the country.  It is only the second largest city after Istanbul with 5.1 million inhabitants.

This is where musician and composer Erkan Oğur was born in 1954.  He is a pioneer of the fretless classical guitar, which he invented in 1976 to obtain more detailed notes for traditional Turkish music.  He is also a master on other string instruments such as the baglama and oud.  He has collaborated widely with musicians in Turkey and even blues musicians in the USA and is still active to this day.  Here is a song he plays with Derya Türka called Zahit Bizi Tan Eyleme, which he recorded with İsmail Hakkı Demircioğlu on their 2000 album Anadolu Beşik:

Oud player and teacher Gülçin Yahya Kaçar was born in Ankara in 1966 to a family originating in Greece, which was part of the great population exchange.  Her family discovered her musical talent early on and she went on to study music and the oud at university, specialising in Classical Turkish music.  She is mainly teaching the instrument these days and has written books on it, rather than being a major recording artist.  But here is her latest single called Gülizâr Sirto:

I don't know where or when singer and pianist Süeda Çatakoğlu was born, but she now resides in Boston, where she is developing her skills in jazz composition, jazz piano and contemporary writing and production at Berklee College of Music.  She combines the jazz elements with Turkish folk as on her 2022 album Süeda Sings Sezen, where she interprets some songs from the legendary Sezen Aksu, which I mentioned in my last post. She is accompanied by a host of international guests on the album and here is a song from the album called El Gibi:

 Finally we are making a song and dance for folk music group the Radio Ankara Music Ensemble.  Don't know much about them, except what it says on the tin, and that they are performing traditional folk music from various regions of the country.  Here is a song from their 1996 album Songs and Dances of Turkey called Folk Song from Adiyaman:

That's it from Ankara, next we are heading to the northeast of the country and the Black Sea coast.  Until then you can check out my virtual travels on my Tripline map.