The upcoming performance of Air Anatolia at London’s Southbank Centre is one of the year’s must-see concerts. Here’s why. Air Anatolia had its first live performance at the Zorlu PSM Concert Hall in Istanbul last month The concert received significant media interest, and the performance generated rave reviews from all who attended. London will form […]
It was the end of 70s and early 80s, when punk became mainstream, and Franco-Turkish combo progressive rock band Asia Minor hit their stride, releasing two albums back to back. Suddenly the band was attracting the attention of all prog lovers and prominent musicians of the era, including Alan Parsons, who was recording an album […]
Newly released on British label Night Dreamers, Anatolia Sun is Moğollar’s first studio album since 2009’s Umut Yollunu Bulur. The new double album, reprising 16 of the band’s classic songs with fresh sounds for 2020, has sent fans into a frenzy. Emerging in the late 60s and finding fame in 70s that even reached international […]
The new album by BaBa ZuLa, Hayvan Gibi [‘Like An Animal’], was released by Night Dreamer last month. In Turkish, the phrase ‘Hayvan Gibi’ is widely used for musicians who play extraordinarily; an expression of virtuosity about an unbelievably good performance, on a par with “Hey man, this band is out of this world,” making it an […]
Taner Öngür has been the torch-bearer for Turkish pop rock for decades, even baptising the genre with the name ‘Anatolian Pop’. The bass guitarist cum multi-instrumentalist has played with many of Turkey’s seminal artists, including Barış Manço, Erkin Koray, Ersen Dinleten and Selda Bağcan, and featured in the line-ups of leading progressive and psychedelic Anatolian […]
Roots The effects of the French Revolution in 1789 reached the Ottoman Empire nearly fifty years later. Starting from 1839 until 1876, during the regression period of Ottoman Empire, a set of reforms were implemented to modernise, centralise and improve the legal, economic, social and political structure of the government, which was called the Tanzimat […]
In almost every speech, Gaye strongly asserts she’s fighting the “Geography is destiny” saying, aphorised by Ibn-i Haldun in the 14th Century. Is this a pertinent remark for Turkey and Turkish artists? In a way it is. Turkey has had many economic, social and geopolitical issues over the years. With its central location as a passage […]
Although the term ‘Istanbul Psychedelia’ defines the music of BaBa ZuLa pretty well, their inspiration is not just Istanbul, but the whole of Anatolia. The band is deeply fascinated by the sounds of the late 60s and 70s when Anatolian Pop, which later converged into Anatolian Rock, was king. Retaining this influence at their core, […]
