Erkin Koray, Turkey's psychedelic minstrel.

May 27, 2008 6:54 AM

Erkin Koray's long career as a major rock star in his native Turkey has seen him cover all sorts of musical territory. His songs are often a curious (some might say bizarre) hodgepodge of musical influences, and one thing's for sure: you couldn't call the man unadventurous! Here's a sampling of some of his psych-Turk-rock from decades past: Krallar - Gel Bak Ne Söylicem - Cemalim - Allahaşkına - Aşka Inanmıyorum - Yanlizlar rihtimi - Gönül Salıncağı - Anma Arkadaş - Aşk Oyunu - Gün Doğmuyor -

There are two MySpace Music pages for Erkin Koray.

At this one you can hear snippets (not whole tunes, unfortunately) but I recommend listening to them simply to get a further idea of the breadth of his output. Some great Turkish psychedelia to whet your appetite here. And at this one there are three tunes you can hear in their entirety.

posted by flapjax at midnite (16 comments total)

Of course, Koray wasn't the only Turkish psych rocker: it was a bona fide thing there, and there's lots of really cool stuff. Related links welcomed!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:03 AM on May 27

Bülent Ortaçgil
Selda Bagcan (here's a bit written about her by someone I like--scroll down because I can't get the damn thing to open on its own)
Some reissues.
posted by sleepy pete at 7:42 AM on May 27

Also, Crossing the Bridge is a good and fairly recent doc about Turkish rock music that has a little bit of Koray. It also features Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten discussing the music and meeting the musicians.
posted by sleepy pete at 8:11 AM on May 27

Nice stuff.
posted by pantufla at 8:19 AM on May 27

A whole new world.
Thanks, flap!
posted by Dizzy at 8:21 AM on May 27

The guys from System of a Down are big fans of this genre.
posted by fixedgear at 8:37 AM on May 27

No Hele Yar? That song is so my jam.
posted by neustile at 8:39 AM on May 27

Is this the new persona/reinvention of Professor Irwin Corey?
posted by Xurando at 9:17 AM on May 27 [1 favorite]

Erkin Koray's long career as a major rock star in his native Turkey

Maybe I just spend WAY too much time on the blue, but I read that first line, and knew exactly who posted it. Knew when I looked down a few lines who it would be. Another great post, and I thank you for it.

Of course, were you to just come mow my damned lawn, bring the CD's, and cop me a pack of smokes and a sixer while I'm napping that would work too.

Til then, I tip my hat, and it's a Cubs hat.
posted by timsteil at 9:20 AM on May 27

Crossing the Bridge is definitely worth checking out. It's directed by Fatih Akin (Head-On).
posted by muckster at 9:20 AM on May 27

Sweet!

How 'bout some 3 Hürel? This one is especially smokin'.
posted by medeine at 11:11 AM on May 27

Holy crap, what awesome music. I can totally see where System of a Down gets their genes from.

I'll be sure to refer to this post-n-thread, too, next time I drop acid on thanksgiving--this post is no turkey, and it's all gravy!

(*ducking thrown objects incited by hackneyed play on words*)
posted by not_on_display at 1:22 PM on May 27

The problem I always had with Koray was that while I loved Electrik Turkoler (sp?), I never found anything else of his to be as good.

(Is Cem Caraka the one who became a woman? Whoever that is, the first album after the transition is pretty good, if a little torchy).
posted by klangklangston at 2:24 PM on May 27

No mention of Mogollar yet! also: Ersen!
Man, I'm so into this stuff lately.

Oh, and if you check out the Mogollar, stay far away from his recent stuff... ugh...
posted by soplerfo at 7:28 PM on May 28

A better Mogollar link.
Anadolu Pop is the jam
posted by soplerfo at 7:30 PM on May 28

Hey, this is the guy from Devil's Anvil. Cool.
posted by NoMich at 10:23 AM on May 30