VA - Bosporus Bridges Vol 1 & 3: A Wide Selection of Turkish Funk and Jazz 1968-1978 (2005/2019)

Pioneering, magisterial compilation, which turned many of us here onto Mustafa Ozkent, Fikret Kizilok, Erkin Koray, Temiz and co, a decade ago. Still dazzling, fresh, essential. Outstanding and limited compilation of Turkish Jazz-Funk rarities. Grey-area edition, result of 6 years of travelling and record collecting in the meeting points between different music cultures; North Africa, the Bosporus and the far eastern parts of Europe. These two first two releases explores what happened when Western music styles such as modal jazz, bossa nova, fusion and funk met Arabic folk music, tone scales, instrumentation and rhythm structures in the late sixties and seventies in Turkey and Egypt. "Bosporus Bridges" is a compilation of Turkish jazz, bossa, psych, fusion and funk compiled by Lasarus and Roskow. Four hundred years ago Turkey was the centre that connected Islamic, Byzantine and Persian music and even at this time Haydn and Mozart fused Persian tone scales and colour of rhythm into their compositions.

Modern Turkish music history begins in 1923, when Turkey became a republic and the leader Kemal Atatopened the doors to the western world. Musicians in Turkey first adapted the waltz, but it was the tango from Paris that spread widely and became popular throughout the country. Youth in Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara started tuning the radio to everything that was happening in London and rock arrived in the mid 50s. The first Turkish rock music came from armybands under the leadership of officers, but when The Shadows emerged on the scene, the popularity of rock exploded, since Turkish people was used to hearing instrumental music. In 1961 the magazine Ht arranged the competition Altin Mikrofon where the contestants had to arrange a traditional Turkish tune or write a Turkish song and perform it in a "western style" with electrical instruments. Altin Mikrofon is the godfather of all the Turkish rock, psych, funk, fusion and jazz that came after. Western records by Black Sabbath, Ten Years After, Beatles, The Who, Jimmy Smith and James Brown got distribution in Istanbul and Ankara and the scene exploded during the years 61-78 with names like Erkin Koray, Mogollar, Baris Manco, Siluetler Mavi Iskalar,3 Hl, Selda, Ersen and Mogollar. The blending of the electric loud, arabic percussion, horn instruments and arabic vocals with western jazz and funk rhythm, makes the sound of this forgotten scene unique.

Vol 2
This is the following issue of the famous Bosporus Bridges Compilation released in 2005.
A wide selection of rare occidental turkish Funk, Jazz, Beat and psychedelic music from the 60´s - 70´s.
All the tracks were tenderly declicked, restaurated and completely remastered at Calyx Mastering, that they sound much better as the original vinyls.
The compiling is done by Holger Lund, Tom Sky & Roskow Kretschmann.

As a bonus,if you download the whole compilation, you will get the free track "su akar" - Ferdi Özebegen reworked by Sygaire.

Vol 3
A wide selection of rare Turkish funk, jazz, beat and psychedelic music from the 1970s.

This is the 3rd issue of the groundbreaking Bosporus Bridges compilation series, started in 2005 with Vol. 1 and continued in 2011 with Vol. 2.

Why did it take so long for the release of Vol. 3? Because deep digging, deep selecting and our wish to serve you Turkish pop music of the highest order, simply takes its time. And it is worth doing so. According to the aspiration of the Bosporus Bridges series you will get extraordinary music, opening your mind and remapping your knowledge of Turkish music.

As Turkish pop music is a hybrid of Western and Eastern elements, it’s not just funk, jazz, beat and psychedelic music but each time a specific Turkish approach to a hybrid pop music. This incorporates Turkish language, instruments, melodies etc., all mixed with electric instruments, drums and sound effects of Western pop music.

Exclusively on vinyl we feature 3 tracks, that will be not available digitally of Figen Han with "Pisi Pisi", Dönüşüm with "Taek-Won-Do" and Burhan Tonguç with "Du-Bi-Ba".

Enjoy deep Turkish funk by Seyyal Taner, Süheyl Denizci, Cengiz Coskuner and Erkut Taçkın, Turkish jazz by the Burhan Tonguç Ritm Grubu and Figen Han, Turkish beat by Lili Ivanova, Ajda Pekkan and Fatoş Balkır, Turkish psychedelic by Semra Sine, Serter Bağcan and Harout Pamboukjian, and Turkish-Asian rock by Dönüşüm & Halit Kakınç.

High-Quality LP vinyl pressing with restored and remastered audio material of the original records. Comes in a wonderful, authentic and special seventies old-fashioned cover.
credits
released February 11, 2019

Tracklist
Bosporus Bridges 1
A1 – Emin Fındıkoğlu – Çeçen Kızı (03:14)
A2 – Mustafa Özkent Ve Orkestrası – Burçak Tarlaları (02:53)
A3 – Erkut Taçkın – Sevmek İstiyorum (03:50)
A4 – Fikret Kızılok – Aybatti (Edit) (03:05)
A5 – Erkin Koray – Karlı Dağlar (03:35)
A6 – Aksu Orkestrası – Bermuda Şeytan Üçgeni (04:58)
B1 – Ferdi Özbeğen – Köprüden Geçti Gelin (03:06)
B2 – Erol Pekcan – Şenlık (05:11)
B3 – Okay Temiz – Denizaltı Rüzgarları (04:05)
B4 – Erol Pekcan Orkestrası – Gel Sevgilim (03:03)
B5 – Durul Gence 10 – Hilal (04:18)


Bosporus Bridges 2
A1 – Urfalı Babi – Lambaya Püf De
A2 – Sevil And Ayla – Irgat
A3 – Gülden Karaböcek – Dokunma Keyfine Yalan Dünyanın
A4 – Alpay – Yekte
A5 – Şakir Öner – Deli Deli
A6 – Nazan Şoray – Hal Hal
B1 – Aylin Urgal – Paran Pulun Senin Olsun
B2 – Zümrüt – Deveyi Düzde Gördüm
B3 – Önder Bali 4 – Koca Dünya
B4 – Neşe Karaböcek – Yali Yali
B5 – Cici Kızlar – Gencim Yaşamı Severim
B6 – Mazhar Ve Fuat – Sür Efem Atını


Bosporus Bridges 3
01. Seyyal Taner - Sarmaş Dolaş (1:53)
02. Harout Pamboukjian - Kyahripar (Yaz Dostum) (3:53)
03. Semra Sine - Gurbet (3:47)
04. Burhan Tonguç Ritm Grubu ve Ismet Siral - Du-Bi-Ba (3:32)
05. Lili Ivanova ve Durul Gence 5 - Nisan Şakasi (2:37)
06. Ajda Pekkan - Sevsen De Gönlünce (2:55)
07. Fatoş Balkir Ve Istanbul Gelişim Orkestrasi - Hey!… Taksi (2:55)
08. Erkut Taçkin - Errek Olana (2:44)
09. Cengiz Coskuner - Samsun' Un Evleri (2:00)
10. Dönüşüm & Halit Kakinç - Taek-Won-Do (2:53)
11. Figen Han & Süheyl Denizci Orkestrasi - Pisi Pisi (3:02)
12. Serter Bağcan - Ordu'nun Dereleri (3:08)
13. Süheyl Denizci & Ümit Aksu Orkestra ve Korosu - Yildiz (2:13)