By Dina Maccabee
I first jumped on the Selda Bagcan bandwagon back in 2006, and I was pretty amused by that earnest bit of 1970s nostalgia, awash in reverby lead guitar lines, vibrato-laden organ, and loping “Age of Aquarius” shuffles. Her compilation of tracks from the '70s, released by Finders Keepers two years ago, went into rotation at fashion boutiques and cafes nationwide: I was introduced to Bagcan in two different stores in Chicago on the same day. Her music was really sweeping the hipster nation.
But for me, Bagcan's sounds were enchanting in their similarity to the dated but uplifting Israeli music I grew up listening to: crackly tapes of tapes of records by Poogy, Tzvicka Pick, Arik Einstein, and Boaz Shar’abi. “Other people like this stuff?” I thought. Well, German label Normal had correctly gambled in 2005 that they might, when they added a Turkish entry to its Love Peace and Poetry series, a line of compilations spotlighting artists in the psychedelic tradition from all over the world.
Love Peace and Poetry: Turkish Psychedelic Music starts with a track titled “Bundan Sonra” by Bagcan, the Turkish folk star who first hooked me. Like any nostalgia-driven trend, the mass penchant for Bagcan’s trippy washes of sound and dramatic vocal style, which had been thoroughly steamrolled out of the global pop lexicon by synthetic kick drums and vocoder way back in the '80s, seemed contrarian and even ironic. Still, “Bundan Sonra” dispels any hint of clever disaffection. According to one online translation, the last verse mourns, “Death is what the Lord wisheth / Your words are wounds on my soul / Even if you were the bridge to heaven / I will not pass you anymore.” Serious stuff for us non-Turkologues to innocently take in while shopping for leg warmers.
In fact this track, beginning with a dreamily ornamented modal guitar improvisation over a drone, sets the tone for the whole compilation: the late '60s rock sonorities that originated in the West as the epitome of groovy cool become, in translation, almost painfully soulful. Another highlight is the celebratory “Yakar Inceden” by forceful vocalist Edip Akbayram, which combines microtonal laments on acoustic Turkish instruments with bouncing prog-rock basslines and rattling tambourines. Erol Buyukburc’s “Hop Dedik” is an ode to folk rock, with honeyed vocals and strummed acoustic guitars straight off Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends. Finally, “Gitmek Dustu Bana” by Erkut Tackin ends the collection by hinting at the arrival of disco and soul, with sophisticated horn-section harmonies and a deceptively danceable hook in 5/4 time.
I came late to the Turkish psychedelia game with this CD, having had Bagcan lingering softly in the back my mind for the last two years as a possible entry into a deep well of musical exploration. She’s a true gateway drug, opening the door to everything from traditional Turkish music to the early influence of rock 'n' roll on musical cultures all over the world. And lucky for the lazy addict in me, Love Peace and Poetry: Turkish Psychedelic Music is a heady and satisfying first dose that’s easy to score.
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