Thankful for the Turkey
Another Thanksgiving is almost upon us, and, despite the election results (pick yr. country: USA or the Ukraine), the never-ending pre-Armageddon in Iraq, and the ugly, polarized state of our own country, there is certainly plenty to be thankful for. Jodi’s mom and brother are braving the crowds of travelers and flying in to DIA this evening. (UPDATE: Flight cancelled, rescheduled for tomorrow.) We’ll stay in town for a few days, then head up to Keystone for some much-needed R&R. Should be a fun weekend, and a well-timed break from Thee Blog-Obsession.
Another good friend of ours happens to be rollin’ through town this evening. And although we won't be able to make it downtown to the Rock Island to check out Chicago’s own Mike Kinsella under his established nom de guerre, Owen, we shall see him soon enough. Jodi just hung with her crew in Chi-town last weekend, and there hatched plans whereby Mister Owen will be joining us at our cozy little abode in suburbia for the big turkeyfest tomorrow, and we will play the role of surrogate turkey family. Good timing, Mike!
Psychedelia from the Middle East in full effect today, courtesy of Tel Aviv native Danny Ben-Israel’s mind-blowing disc, The Kathmandu Sessions, and a spectacular compilation of Turkish psych, ‘66-’75, Hava Narghile.
Because it is Thanksgiving, after all, we begin with Turkey.
Check out that cover, baby. Ya just can’t beat a hookah in a harem. A mighty compendium of Anatolian grooves, these twenty-two tracks, as brilliant as they are obscure, serve as a splendid introduction to an incredibly rich scene that should not be overlooked. Judging from the soothing sounds of crackle and fuzz, most of these songs were sourced directly from rare vinyl copies. Turkey, known traditionally as the gateway between East and West, again serves this purpose well, fusing its exotic, eastern-tinged, traditional folk music to the wild garage rock that was blasting out of the States (and almost every country in the world) at the time. Straight from the Bacchus Archives website:
And so Turkey thus became a hotbed for psychedelic raga rock in the late sixties and into the seventies. I hadn’t heard of many of these names before, but there were a few. Besides 3 Hur-El and Mogollar (with whom I was nominally familiar, thanks to the Love Peace & Poetry series), Erkin Koray makes three appearances on the disc, and is probably the most influential rock musician in Turkish history. But don’t take it from me, take it from Julian Cope:
Damn.
I just found an awesome site. Click here if you want further info on TURKISH BEAT, PSYCH, CROSSOVER, FUSION and PROGRESSIVE MUSIC. This will take me days to go through!
I gotta run. Don’t think I’ve forgotten to wax poetic on Mr. Danny Ben-Israel, but that will have to wait for a future post.
N/P A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
Another good friend of ours happens to be rollin’ through town this evening. And although we won't be able to make it downtown to the Rock Island to check out Chicago’s own Mike Kinsella under his established nom de guerre, Owen, we shall see him soon enough. Jodi just hung with her crew in Chi-town last weekend, and there hatched plans whereby Mister Owen will be joining us at our cozy little abode in suburbia for the big turkeyfest tomorrow, and we will play the role of surrogate turkey family. Good timing, Mike!
Psychedelia from the Middle East in full effect today, courtesy of Tel Aviv native Danny Ben-Israel’s mind-blowing disc, The Kathmandu Sessions, and a spectacular compilation of Turkish psych, ‘66-’75, Hava Narghile.
Because it is Thanksgiving, after all, we begin with Turkey.
Check out that cover, baby. Ya just can’t beat a hookah in a harem. A mighty compendium of Anatolian grooves, these twenty-two tracks, as brilliant as they are obscure, serve as a splendid introduction to an incredibly rich scene that should not be overlooked. Judging from the soothing sounds of crackle and fuzz, most of these songs were sourced directly from rare vinyl copies. Turkey, known traditionally as the gateway between East and West, again serves this purpose well, fusing its exotic, eastern-tinged, traditional folk music to the wild garage rock that was blasting out of the States (and almost every country in the world) at the time. Straight from the Bacchus Archives website:
"You'll hear sizzling raga rock guitar mingling with the exotic sounds of the saz (the national instrument of Turkey and a distant relative of the sitar) and intense duelling of electric saz and killer fuzz guitar, backed by a belly-beat provided by a darbuka. So light-up your hubble-bubble pipe (narghile) for a journey to what was once the uncrowned psych music capital of the world--take a trip to Istanbul."
And so Turkey thus became a hotbed for psychedelic raga rock in the late sixties and into the seventies. I hadn’t heard of many of these names before, but there were a few. Besides 3 Hur-El and Mogollar (with whom I was nominally familiar, thanks to the Love Peace & Poetry series), Erkin Koray makes three appearances on the disc, and is probably the most influential rock musician in Turkish history. But don’t take it from me, take it from Julian Cope:
While non-Turkish sources continually name check Koray as "the Jimi Hendrix of Turkey" to my mind’s eye and ears he’s also the Chuck Berry, the Link Wray, the John Fahey, the Jimmy Page and the T.S. McPhee of Turkey and more all combined: Not only for the early and pioneering foundations he helped lay for Turkish rock’n’roll, how he synthesised multiple music forms together into a brand new thang, or how he delivered it all with such strength and integrity that the exotic Eastern influences he would eventually weave into his rock’n’roll lived and breathed vitality and was not just added for some Hollywooden Casbah décor effect but if there was ever a musician who kicked against the pricks, did it his way -- the hard way -- and by virtue of his undying efforts lit a rock’n’roll fire in Asia Minor that sustained in the most major way possible, then it was Erkin Koray.
Damn.
I just found an awesome site. Click here if you want further info on TURKISH BEAT, PSYCH, CROSSOVER, FUSION and PROGRESSIVE MUSIC. This will take me days to go through!
I gotta run. Don’t think I’ve forgotten to wax poetic on Mr. Danny Ben-Israel, but that will have to wait for a future post.
N/P A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
posted by Jonathan Wright at 6:58 PM EMAIL POST
