Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe

♬ Rumeli Karşılaması

Kupa Dörtlüsü Ork. – or Four of Cups Orchestra – were from Turkey. The band was led by Rişar or Richard – but his real name was Ριχαρδος Πρελορεντζος, who, as you may be able to guess, was originally from neighboring Greece.

The band released six albums and a dozen singles. They were also the back up band for many Turkish musicians, including Cengiz Coşkuner, Hayko, Mürüvvet Kekilli, Zerrin Zeren and Taroub who was from Lebanon but did some recording in Turkey.

Catalog number SP 234 Sevilen Plak of Turkey. Released 1972.

♬ Romen Havası 

Cengiz Coşkuner was – and to the best of knowledge, still is – from Turkey.

His father was a violinist. When he saw the talent in his son, he had a small violin made. Cengiz received private violin lessons until the age of 10. Then he became interested in the guitar. This time, his father bought him a second-hand guitar. He started at the music conservatory while he was still in high school. Since there was no guitar department at the conservatory, he studied in the trumpet, double bass and piano. On weekends, he would play guitar at weddings. Later, he formed the Cengiz Coşkuner Orchestra. 

If you have any further information about this artist or anything else about this recording, please leave it in the comment section below.

Catalog number 1013 on Elenor Plak of Turkey. Released 1974.

♬ Bir Araya Gelemeyiz

Orhan Gencebay – originally Orhan Kencebay – was born in Samsun, Turkey on August 4th, 1944. He is a virtuoso of the bağlama as well as a composer, singer, arranger, music producer and music director. He is also an actor, having starred in over 30 films.As of this posting, he is still active. His last album was released 2013. He is also a regular presenter and judge for Turkish reality television singing competition television programs. You can find more information about him at his website: orhangencebay.com.tr

As of this posting, he is still active. His last album was released 2013. He is also a regular presenter and judge for Turkish reality television singing competition television programs. You can find more information about him at his website: orhangencebay.com.trIn his early 20s, he became a resident bağlama player at the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT). In 1966, he was one of the primary contestants in National Bağlama Contest with Arif Sağ and Cinuçen Tanrıkorur, two other contemporary masters of Turkish music. In the late sixties, he collaborated with a wide range of musicians in performances and film music. He also collaborated with many musicians, including Arif Sağ, Erkin Koray, Neşet Ertaş, Omar Faruk Tekbilek – to name a few.

During the 1970s, he released many singles that were a fusion of traditional Turkish classical and folk music with Western classical music, jazz, rock, progressive, psychedelic, Indian, Arabic, Spanish and Greek musical styles. In 1972, he founded the lable Kervan Plakçılık, that released records by Ahmet Özhan, Ajda Pekkan, Erkin Koray, Muazzez Abacı, Neşe Karaböcek, Semiha Yankı – as well as many others.

As of this posting, he is still active. His last album was released 2013. He is also a regular presenter and judge for Turkish reality television singing competition television programs. You can find more information about him at his website: orhangencebay.com.tr

Catalog number 95 on Kervan Plakçılık of Turkey, released 1975.

♬ Halûk İçin

Born on March 1, 1938, in Istanbul, Önder Bali studied at the Istanbul Conservatory and started his professional music career in 1961 by playing the clarinet in the Istanbul City Orchestra. Later, he played wind instruments in the orchestras of Erol Büyükburç, Ertan Anapa, Şevket Uğurluer and Yalçın Ateş.

In 1969, he formed the Önder Bali 4. He played organ and clarinet, Zafer Dilek on guitar, Haluk Hancı of Mavi Çocuklar on bass and Erdal Gürel on drums. Between 1970 and 1973, they recorded four singles before the quartet went their separate ways and Zafer Dilek starting his solo career.

Catalog number YCA-019 on Yonca Records of Turkey, released 1970.

♬ Seherde Bir Bağa Girdim

♬ Dert Deryası (Enstrumantal)

Ali Eker Aydoğan (AKA Derdioklar Ali) was born in the Fethiye town of Malatya. He recorded his first single under the name Derdiyok in 1972. Two years later, he would move to Darmstadt, Germany. In 1979, he met İhsan Güvercin – who was also originally from Malatya – and formed Derdiyoklar İkilisi. They released their first cassette that same year on Türküola – a German label that specialized in Turkish music. The group became popular among the Turkish population in Germany in the 1980s for their theatrical stage shows and for their songs against xenophobia in Germany.

TürkofonGmbH has reissued this album and it is available on bandcamp. For some reason they cut the extended intro off of “Seherde Bir Bağa Girdim” and omitted “Dert Deryası (Enstrumantal)”.

Catalog number 1153 on Türküola of Köln, Germany. Released 1979.

♬ Ringo

To say this song borrows from Ennio Morricone‘s title music from the Sergio Leon film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly would be a bit if an understatement…

Selçuk Alagöz was born in Istanbul, Turkey on August 5th, 1944. His father was a music teacher and taught Selçuk and his brother Ali and his sister Rana. He got his start in music by playing in Erol Büyükburç Orkestrası in 1964. The following year, he entered the Altın Mikrofon contest that were held by Hürriyet newspaper. His recording career continued throughout the 1970s and he still preforming as of this posting.

I was first introduced to Selçuk Alagöz on the Grey Past Records compilation Turkish Delights. That compilation – plus Steam Kodok from the same label – were the some of the first records that opened my eyes ears to the sounds from around the world that were not being represented in the “World Music” bin at my local record store. 

Catalog number FS 176 on Sayan of Istanbul, Turkey. Released 1968.

♬ Ilk Aşkim

Berkant Akgürgen was born on New Years Eve 1938 in Ankara, Turkey. At the age of 19, he formed his first band Üstün Poyrazoğlu Orkestrası. Later that year, the band changed their name to Jüpiter Kenteti – or Jupiter Quintets. After a stint in the military, he formed Vasfi Uçaroğlu Orkestrası.

Berkant recorded dozens of singles between 1966 and 1974, and many of the songs were collected on an album in 1974. In 1993, he attempted a comeback with an album called “Samanyolu ’93” – or “Milky Way ’93”. He died today – October 1st, 2012.

This song, which translates as “First Love” was originally recorded by Ajda Pekkan.

Catalog number SP 303 on Sevilen Plāk of Turkey, released 1972.

♬ Çiçek Dağı

Guitarist and composer Zafer Dilek was born in Turkey in 1945. He is best known for his arrangements of traditional folk songs. Dilek recorded a number of singles in the early to mid-Seventies that were collected on two LPs – “Oyun Havaları” and “Oyun Havaları 2“. Beyond that, there is not a whole lot of information available other than the fact that he is apparently – as of this posting – still alive. For some reason, this song – which was also covered by Erkin Koray – was left off the CD re-issue of Dilek’s music.

If you have any further information on Zafer Dilek, please contact me or leave a comment.

Catalog number YCAS-052 on Yonca Plakçilik of Istanbul, Turkey. No release date listed.

♬ Mahizer

Just the other night, I was talking with a fellow record collector – err, I mean archivist – and he was lamenting about how record hunting – I mean researching, researching – has become more competitive and that the prices for these records – Sorry, research materials – has gotten out of control. There are more and more people searching for these unheard sounds. Due to onslaught of re-issues and compilations, as well as websites like this one, folks have been turned on to something they never knew even existed before.

Hell, I’m guilty. Only about five years ago, I had barely an inkling of what was out there. I had picked up a few compilations here and there, and then the next thing I know I’m blowing my whole paycheck on eBay. One of the first compilations that clued me in – if not the first – was Grey Past’s Turkish Delights.

Turkey seems to be the gateway drug – I mean country – for record collectors. For many, it seems to be where the record collecting bug emanates from – and for good reason, too. Turkey is quite unique due to the fact that, besides being crossroads between Europe and Asia, the population is 99.83% Muslim and yet they have a secular democracy. Add in a thriving music scene in the 60s and 70s that was fueled by annual Battle of the Bands – which were promoted and funded by the local newspaper. Thanks to all of these factors, there is a seemingly endless supply of amazing records from Turkey.

As for İskender Doğan, I see that he has a Facebook page…

Catalog number A. K. 44 on 1 Numara Records of Turkey. No release date listed.

♬ Haydi Bastır

The same cultural shifts in Turkey that brought about Anatolian Rock, also gave birth to a film industry that was… Well, let’s just say produced some rather racy films for a country that is 99% Muslim. Known as seks filmler. these films – which ranged from soft- to mid-hardcore pornographic – were produced from the late1960s until the end of the 1980s. But if it were not for the country’s policy of secularism, or laïcité, these films would have most likely never have been made.

Apparently, it was a common view of film producers of the time that films were shot not as parts of a single work but as source material for production of multiple films. Erotic scenes, especially, were often cut and pasted to assemble new films from various parts of existing ones. This peculiar practice was called “parça” (“fragment”), and the term was extended into the movie theaters themselves to include the practice by the projectionists of inserting hardcore material, which was European most of the time, into Turkish erotic films.

Whereas Figin Han may not have been the most famous seks filmler actress, she supposedly was the most infamous, and retains a cult following to this day. Other actresses of the time include Feri Cansel, Zerrin Doğan, Zerrin Egeliler and Arzu Okay. This single was her only foray in to music, perhaps in attempt to make her seem more like Bridget Bardot.

Catalog number SP / 73 on Saner records of Turkey. No release date listed.