Moğollar

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Moğollar
Current members of Moğollar. From left to right: Cahit Berkay, Taner Öngür, Serhat Ersöz, Engin Yörükoğlu
Background information
Origin	Turkey
Genre(s)	Rock
Years active	1968 - present
Label(s)	RCA, Guilde Internationale du disque, Diskotür, Ada Müzik, Emre plak
Website	mogollar.com
Members
Cahit Berkay Taner Öngür Serhat Ersöz Engin Yörükoğlu
Former members
Aziz Azmet Murat Ses Hasan Sel Tahir Nejat Özyılmazel Aydın Daruga

Moğollar (meaning Mongols in Turkish) is one of the pioneer bands in Turkish rock music for about 30 years and one of the founders of Turkish ethno rock music (or Anatolian rock music). The major goal of the band is to prove that folk music has a multi-layered soul and folk music's dynamism is very close to pop music's dynamism.

This band was founded by Neco, Aziz Azmet, Aydın Daruga and Murat Ses who were members of Silüetler (silhouettes) in 1967. However, Neco left the band at the end of 1967. Also, Cahit Berkay who was a member of Selçuk Alagöz Band and Haluk Kunt who was a member of Vahşi Kediler (Wild Cats) joined the band. Later, Haluk Kunt replaced Hasan Sel who was a member of Apaşlar (Apachies) in 1968 and Aydın Daruga replaced Engin Yörükoğlu in 1969.

In 1970, Hasan Sel replaced Taner Öngür who was a member of Meteorlar (Meteors) and Erkin Koray Quartet. The band tried to fuse the technical aspects of pop music with the melodies of Anatolian folk music in late 1960s and early 1970s.

In July 1970, Aziz Azmet who was the vocalist of the band left the band and Ersen replaced him for a short time. Moğollar recorded Ternek/Haliç'te Gün Batışı (Ternek/Sunset on the Golden Horn) 45 rpm, and left for Paris in August 1970.

The group won the Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy (previously won by such groups as Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix) in 1971.

Murat Ses (the group's keyboardist, arranger and composer) work and composition Ağrı Dağı Efsanesi (The Legend of Mount Ararat) was inspired by ancient legends of the Great Flood in different cultures. In live versions over ten minutes he made use of diverse FX possibilities of the time to tell a sonic story with his keyboards.

In 1971 Barış Manço joined the band as vocalist and the band was renamed Manchomongol. Manchomongol recorded 2 45 rpms and this partnership was finished after 4 months. Also, Engin Yörükoğlu stayed in Paris and Ayzer Danga who was drummer of Mavi Işıklar (Blue Lights) joined the band to replace him.

Moğollar recorded 1 rpm with Selda at first half of 1972. After, Ersen joined again the band in July 1972 and they recorded 1 45rpm. However, Murat Ses left from the band in August 1972. In September 1972, Moğollar changed their solist and Cem Karaca who was solist of Kardaşlar (Brothers) became solist of the band. Ersen became solist of Kardaşlar. Patnership of Cem Karaca and Moğollar was lasted 2 years and they created Namus Belası song that was a hit.

In 1974, Taner Öngür and Ayzer Danga left from the band. Taner Öngür joined to Dervişan (Dervishes) who was a band of Cem Karaca between 1974 and 1978 and Ayzer Danga participated to Erkin Koray for Elektronik Türküler (Electronic Songs) album. Also, Cahit Berkay dissolved the band and left to France for meeting with Engin Yörükoğlu. Cahit Berkay and Engin Yörükoğlu as Moğollar recorded 2 albums. Also, they recorded 1 45 rpm with Ali Rıza Binboğa in 1975. Finally, the band was completely dissolved in 1976.

Cahit Berkay, Taner Öngür and Engin Yörükoğlu reformed the band in 1993, and were joined by keyboard player Serhat Ersöz. Murat Ses is dealing with other projects and is still pursuing an extraordinary international career.