Monday, April 9, 2012
Music / Post No Bills Jacked-up Turkish folk back in circulation
Posted by Peter Margasak on 04.09.12 at 11:26 AM
Apart from their impressive coifs and beards, Ali Ekber Aydogan and Ihsan Güvercin don't have much in common with Turkish psych artists—and their music bears little relationship to disco. On the other hand, the group's melodies are distinctly Turkish, and on the whole the record sounds like cleaner, more danceable Anatolian pop. Aydogan is a fine singer, but it's his quasi-rock playing on the electric saz that distinguishes Derdiyoklar Ikilisi from most of the Turkish music I've heard, his twangy leads snaking among Güvercin's strolling rhythms (I'm still trying to figure out the three-necked hybrid instrument on the cover—it's part saz, part guitar, and part . . . something). Below you can check out an album track called "Halay."
Much more pleasing to the eyes than the static album-cover image in the "Halay" video is the second clip below, recorded during a 1984 Derdiyoklar Ikilisi performance. It's pretty lo-fi, but that doesn't make it any harder to appreciate Aydogan's showmanship: he interrupts his own trancelike poses with bursts of movement and some hilarious behind-the-back saz-plucking while shuffling around in his baggy Anatolian trousers. And when the camera pans left to include more of the audience, you can see that the only people really paying attention to him are a bunch of little kids. About six minutes in, he collapses to the ground, seemingly exhausted by the intensity of his performance, while Güvercin continues to play unfazed.
Derdiyoklar Ikilisi, "Halay"
Today's playlist:
Grand Kalle et L'African Team, 1967-1968-1970 (Syllart)
Clark, Body Riddle (Warp)
Dave Douglas, A Single Sky (Greenleaf)
Luiz Carlos Vinhas, Novas Estruturas (Forma)
Corey Dargel, Someone Will Take Care of Me (New Amsterdam)
