The song is mostly hand percussion, saz and vocals, but towards the end electronic elements start creeping in, setting the stage for what is to follow. But then he steps on the wah pedal, letting us know this is not your grandfather’s Turkish folk. Opener “Haller Yollar” starts with Osman’s electric saz playing a slinky melodic figure, as timeless as it is seductive. Both are electrified and although they belong to different traditions, their combination works beautifully and gives the band a unique sound.
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One of Baba Zula’s trademark sounds is the combination of saz, a Turkish string instrument, and the Moroccan oud. The music is cinematic and airy, a smorgasbord of sounds running the gamut from abstract electronica to beautiful acoustic and heavy psychedelic sounds.Įxperimentation rules, but melody and beauty are never far. Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit played with Baba Zula on numerous occasions before his passing and was a major inspiration on the band.ĭerin Derin is their first release in four years, based around a soundtrack for a documentary about falcons that the band was asked to make. Founded by and based around saz player Osman Muret Ortel, the group’s influences range from traditional Turkish music, psychedelia, dub, electronic music and especially the music of krautrock pioneers Can. Multi-cultural, spanning different genres, blending together many diverging elements, this release fits in an ever-growing number of artists that bridge East and West, bringing together cultures all too often assumed to be at odds with one another.īaba Zula are a four-piece based in Istanbul. Before then, be mesmerised by their live set at WOMAD.Derin Derin is an album after my own heart. This bends their music into something utterly unique in each one of their live sets.īaba Zula are set to release a new album in September 2019, which will see the band continue to push their already esoteric sound to new frontiers. On stage, the five-piece return to their roots, borrowing from Turkish traditions of melodic improvisation and repetition. Whilst psychedelia links their back catalogue together, the band has explored dub and reggae too, which comes clear in the extensive use of echo and drum machine in their recorded work. Ertel’s vocals switch song-by-song between drone-like chanting and staccato shouts, reminding of both traditional Balkan singing styles, and the folk-psychedelia of acts like the Animal Collective.īaba Zula are not newcomers, and since being founded in 1996, they have released music at a prolific rate. The Saz (or Baglama), a stringed instrument that was first used in pre-Ottoman Turkey, is amped up, producing a piercing high-pitched sound that weaves in with often asynchronous percussion. The five-piece requisition traditional Turkish instruments, repurposing them to fit into rich avant-garde soundscapes. Led by Murat Ertel on vocals, Baba Zula stretch the psychedelic strands of Turkish rock music to their limits.
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Fifty years on, Baba Zula are the end product of this fascinating music tradition. Yet, the British summer of love and the hallucinogenic output of acts such as Pink Floyd and Small Faces was of tremendous influence across the Bosphorus, giving inspiration and direction to the burgeoning Anatolian Rock movement.Īs per the shamans of Western psychedelia happily borrowed from a smorgasbord of Asian and Mediterranean genres, Turkish musicians found that their traditional folk fit in pretty well with the cutting-edge sounds of the day. Written by our in-house hero, Matt Hacke.Ī national love affair with psychedelic rock is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Turkey. Next up in the series, take a trip into the weird and wonderful world of Turkish psychedelia with BaBa ZuLa.
Baba zula series#
Follow the series through our social media and newsletter for insights into some of the best music you haven’t heard yet. Strap in and get ready for the next instalment of the #GETTOKNOW series which invites you to learn a little more about the lesser known bands playing at the festival this year.