THE TURKISH PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC EXPLOSION – ANADOLU PSYCH 1965-1980

Entertaining overview of fascinating East-meets-West music scene.

When Daniel Spicer was first commissioned to write about this book’s subject for The Wire, he knew practically nothing about it. But with the fervour of a convert, he describes the joyous sensation of discovering a whole new scene, the often startling collision between Anglo-US psychedelia and Anatolian folk music that soundtracked a period of rapid modernisation in Turkey. Spicer produces potted histories for all the main figures within the scene – Erkin Koray, Barıs Manço, Cem Karaca, Mogollar, etc – but it’s his ability to bring the music to life that makes this such an enjoyable read, with key songs described in loving detail. He has a decent turn of phrase too – for instance, compared to the microtonal freedom of the Arabic scale, western music is “pinched by the tyrannous girdle of 12 equal tunings per octave.” There’s also a surprising number of prog references, with either

Spicer or the artists themselves citing everybody from Pink Floyd and The Nice to Jethro Tull and Gentle Giant. And then there’s Manço’s “prog pomp” concept album 2023, and Karaca’s side-long “socialist rock opera” Safinaz. A great primer for the curious. JB