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 i...
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 feat...
Any visitor to Turkey will know how important music is to the local culture. From Turkish pop to Ottoman-inspired classical music (Türk Sanat Müziği), folk (Halk Müziği) and the blues (Türkü), live renditions can be seen and heard everywhere. One of the country’s biggest modern entertainment trad...
An artist of Turkish heritage living and working in Hackney needs help from the Turkish community in Hackney, East London, for his new project exploring the power of songs that reconnect us to our roots. Kadir Karababa, or Kad for short, will be recording a series of short films of members of mig...
RootsThe 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 struc...
One of London’s most iconic live music venues has launched a crowdfunding appeal to try and survive the coronavirus pandemic. The Jazz Cafe has been an important platform for a diverse range of artists, including those of Turkish origin. Like other venues up and down the country, it was forced...
DMC, the record label behind Turkey’s biggest pop stars Tarkan, Sezen Aksu and Ajda Pekkan, is being taken over by French digital music platform Believe. An agreement worth $23.4 million, signed on 17 April by Doğan Holding, Doğan Müzik Yapım’s (DMC) parent company, and Believe, will see the Fren...
On Monday, 30 March, the UK’s Turkish community was rocked by news of the death of popular musician Doğan Ahmet. The founder member of legendary Turkish pop-folk band Konkurt died of coronavirus a day after being admitted to North Middlesex Hospital, in North London, aged 72. Twenty-four hours...
Without a doubt, Ebru Ellis has talent. Yet the 31-year-old singer from South London is still waiting for her big break. Earlier this month, Ebru dropped her new single Running, an urban pop song that has been on repeat on my MP3 player ever since. It has a brilliant uplifting beat and shows off...
Tansay Omar has music flowing through his blood. The South Londoner picked up his first drumsticks as a child, playing pots and pans. By thirteen he had his first drum kit. Three years later, he was a member of Turkish wedding band Dalgalar, performing with them most weekends until he was 21. It was...
