Rock music in Turkey

Anatolian rock (Turkish: Anadolu rock), also known as Turkish rock, is a fusion of Turkish folk and rock music. It emerged during the mid-1960s, soon after rock groups such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Status Quo and Omega became popular in Turkey. Examples of this style include Turkish musicians such as Cem Karaca, Barış Manço, Erkin Koray, Fikret Kızılok, Cahit Oben, Selçuk Alagöz, Edip Akbayram alongside bands such as Moğollar, Silüetler, Kurtalan Ekspres, Grup Çığrışım, Grup Çağrışım, Mavi Işıklar, Apaşlar, Kaygısızlar, Haramiler, Modern Folk Üçlüsü and Kardaşlar. Today, Anatolian rock includes music derived from both traditional Turkish folk music and rock.

History and development

The Turkish Rock movement is believed to have begun in the 1950s with the arrival of The Shadows and developed further during the next decade with the increasing popularity of Western music acts. Along with the introduction of these bands, Turkish society began to undergo significant cultural changes, including the growth of multi-party democracy in the region.[1]

From 1968 to about 1975, psychedelic rock became popular in Turkey, notably the work of guitarist Erkin Koray.

As other rock genres gained popularity in Turkey, Anatolian rock also began to diversify. In the last decade, there has been a growth of Turkish rock bands such as Mor ve Ötesi, Gece Yolcuları, Almora, Kurban, Kargo, Duman, Vega, Çilekeş, Redd, Nemrud, Makine, Gripin and maNga, the latter having won the "Best Rock Band" award in almost all polls in 2005.[2] Besides, due to the Turkish migration to Germany, several Turkish-rooted bands also evolved in Germany – e. g. in the 1980s as alternative groups: Ünlü (from 1981 on, at the beginning named Fahrstuhl) and The Trial (from 1985 on).[3][4] The influences acting upon all these bands fall into a wide range of genres, from the Seattle Sound to heavy or doom metal and rapcore. Hence, Anatolian rock refers to a fusion of a wide selection of western rock subgenres with either a traditional Turkish sound or even rock music with Turkish lyrics. Such cultural fusion led the way for rock music to develop in Turkey.

There are also individual rock performers who have gained success such as Ayna (band), Murat Göğebakan, Haluk Levent, Şebnem Ferah, Gültekin Kaan, Barış Akarsu, Ogün Sanlısoy, Demir Demirkan, Hayko Cepkin, Aslı Gökyokuş, Nev, Aylin Aslım, Emre Aydın, Özlem Tekin and Teoman. By the end of the 1980s, several metal groups formed in Turkey such as Mezarkabul (Pentagram), and Diken.

Large-scale rock festivals (past and current)

References and notes

  1. ↑ "Turkish Progressive Music in the sixties and seventies". Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Biyografi". Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Turkish Wikipedia Article (Turkish)
  4. ↑ The Trial. "The Trial – Biographie". Retrieved 11 June 2015.
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