Türküola 1982 / Guerssen 2016
Nice Yillara Gülüm
The ’80s feed the head of Anatolian singer to create a delight with limited demand.
Given Turkey’s geographical position, it’s a little surprise that European musical tropes have been finding their way into Middle Eastern sonic ornaments ever since Atatürk set his county onto secular course. In the early ’80s, though, the pop strain of this mix went awry, with MOR’s banality married to Asian overt emotiveness. Cue Edip Akbayram’s third album – plagued, at least to non-Levant ears, by folk repetition yet saved, to some extent, by the use of synthesizer.
Whether cosmic effects suit pieces such as “Degmen Benim Gönlüme” where Akbayram’s vocals paint national patterns with some gusto is debatable, yet the riffs the keyboards provide on “Aman Kerem” or the title track make these pieces memorable and, as funky bass punches the texture of traditional instruments, rather unusual. Same can’t be said of “Kibar Gelin” whose anguish has become its undoing, while “Cana Kurban” is outlined in pure schlager terms, mellifluous if superficial. As a result, the album’s allure feels rather parochial – neither exotic enough, nor too arresting – which is not a quality issue but one of territorial restraints.
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