The rock scene in Turkey is almost unknown in German-speaking countries. Since the late sixties, an independent variety of contemporary music has developed there, whose exotic, even psychedelic charm lies precisely in the mix of tradition and modernity. Bir sevgili uğruna, Sen de benim gibi yanma arkadaş", and later in the chorus: "O yaşlı gözlerine, o yalan sözlerine, Kanma arkadaş" - many sang these lines of text. The hard rocker Ogün Sanlısoy for example - his video has been clicked 1.5 million times on YouTube so far. Likewise Yıldız Tilbe, Turk of Kurdish descent, who has released 15 albums since the 90s and also attracted attention with drastic anti-Semitic remarks (3.7 million clicks). The same goes for Umut Kaya (2.2 million clicks) - they all covered the song "Anma Arkadaş" by Erkin Koray.
Born in 1941, Koray is one of the pioneers of Turkish rock music. The concert on 29 December 1957 with his school band at an Istanbul grammar school is regarded as the birth of Turkish rock, his 1967 single "Anma Arkadaş" as the first psychedelic release of a Turkish musician. The catchy melody and exotic sound of the Bağlama (a long-necked lute, similar to the Saz and the Bouzouki) give the song a timeless, strange touch. After his first album from 1973 was only an unauthorized compilation of early singles, his successor "Elektronik Türküler" (German: electronic songs) is still one of the highlights of "Rock made in Turkey". Koray: "I could create things that were not possible on the singles. I have gone as far as possible to incorporate electronic elements into our folk songs without harming their beauty and naturalness."
This shows the two peculiarities of Turkish rock music: the reflection on old folk songs and the combination of Turkish folklore with Western stylistic devices and sounds. Thus the exotic charm is preserved and provides the psychedelic feeling. Erkin Koray also resorted to traditions. Among the ancestors and ancestors of this music are Âşık Veysel and Neşet Ertaş . Veysel, who died in 1973 in the same small village in central Turkey where he was born 79 years earlier, is considered one of Anatolia's most famous Bağlama players, singers and poets. None other than Joe Satriani dedicated the tracks "Asik Vaysel" and "Andalusia" to Veysel on his album "Professor Satchafunkilus And The Musterion Of Rock" in 2008. Neşet Ertaş (1938-2012) is also a legend in Anatolia as a Bağlama player, singer and poet. He is often referred to as the Turkish Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen. Like his equally famous father Muharrem Ertaş, he moved from place to place, reciting folk songs and his own poems.
