In these uncertain and unsettling coronavirus times, it’s vital we nourish our minds and spirit with positivity, and when this new track from Sezin Angelova dropped in my inbox, I eagerly lapped it up. The London-based singer songwriter has teamed up with multi-instrumentalist and seasoned session musician Jomy Jai for her gorgeous debut release that […]
Newly released on British label Night Dreamers, Anatolia Sun is Moğollar’s first studio album since 2009’s Umut Yollunu Bulur. The new double album, reprising 16 of the band’s classic songs with fresh sounds for 2020, has sent fans into a frenzy. Emerging in the late 60s and finding fame in 70s that even reached international […]
The Royal Academy of Arts presents a landmark exhibition bringing together for the first time the work of acclaimed British artist Tracey Emin RA (b.1963) and the Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch (1863-1944), two internationally renowned artists born 100 years apart. Long fascinated and inspired by Edvard Munch’s work, Tracey Emin has chosen a selection of […]
This week, music streaming service Spotify released its annual “Wrapped” statistics, providing data about the listening habits of 2020 for individual users, countries, and the platform as a whole. In Turkey, rap, pop and indie music were the most popular genres for streaming in 2020, with Ezhel topping the charts as the most listened to […]
“All great transcendental art is not merely symbolic or imaginary: it is a direct invitation to recognize and realize a deeper dimension of our very own being,” wrote Ken Wilber in the foreword to The Mission of Art by Alex Grey. And so it was with a stunning piece of performance art by Sumer Erek on […]
The new album by BaBa ZuLa, Hayvan Gibi [‘Like An Animal’], was released by Night Dreamer last month. In Turkish, the phrase ‘Hayvan Gibi’ is widely used for musicians who play extraordinarily; an expression of virtuosity about an unbelievably good performance, on a par with “Hey man, this band is out of this world,” making it an […]
During the 1970s and 80s, Turkish cinema regularly churned out low-budget versions of Hollywood box office smashes and American television hit series. Star Wars, Star Trek, The Exorcist, E.T., and Superman were among those to get an often unauthorised Turkish makeover. These B-movies, often referred to as “Turksploitation”, are not only endearing to Turks, but […]
Taner Öngür has been the torch-bearer for Turkish pop rock for decades, even baptising the genre with the name ‘Anatolian Pop’. The bass guitarist cum multi-instrumentalist has played with many of Turkey’s seminal artists, including Barış Manço, Erkin Koray, Ersen Dinleten and Selda Bağcan, and featured in the line-ups of leading progressive and psychedelic Anatolian […]
Hit television series Kuruluş: Osman returned for its second season tonight with an exciting new name added to the cast, Cüneyt Arkın. Arkın’s new role is the head of ‘Aksakallılar’ – meaning ‘the white beards’, or wise male elders of the Turkish tribes of Anatolia. The octogenarian is seen giving advice to Osman, played by Burak […]
Any visitor to Turkey will know how important music is to the local culture. From Turkish pop to Ottoman-inspired classical music (Türk Sanat Müziği), folk (Halk Müziği) and the blues (Türkü), live renditions can be seen and heard everywhere. One of the country’s biggest modern entertainment traditions has been the gazino – a high-end cabaret […]
