{ "slug": "anadolu-rock", "name": "Anadolu Rock", "aliases": [ "anatolian rock", "turkish psych", "anadolu pop" ], "description": "Istanbul at the end of the sixties, where a generation set Anatolian folk melodies and aşık poetry against fuzz guitar and Hammond organ — microtonal saz lines arranged for a rock band, and often pointed squarely at the state.", "origin": { "place": "Istanbul, Turkey", "year": 1968 }, "lineage": [ { "genre": "psychedelic-rock", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/psychedelic-rock/", "inherited": "The equipment and the licence. Turkish bands were hearing Cream and Hendrix on shortwave and taking from them exactly one idea — that the guitar could carry a melody nobody had written for a guitar." } ], "bpm": { "min": 90, "max": 150 }, "updated": "2026-08-31", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/anadolu-rock/", "trackCount": 7, "curatedBy": [], "playlists": {}, "tracks": [ { "rank": 1, "trackKey": "erkin-koray--estarabim", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/erkin-koray--estarabim/", "title": "Estarabim", "artist": "Erkin Koray", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/erkin-koray/", "year": 1974, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "From Elektronik Türküler, and the record that settles the argument. Koray built himself an electric saz because no guitar would give him the intervals he wanted.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Erkin%20Koray%20Estarabim", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jsd8h83BLnU", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 2, "trackKey": "mogollar--ince-ince-bir-kar-yagar", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mogollar--ince-ince-bir-kar-yagar/", "title": "Ince İnce Bir Kar Yağar", "artist": "Moğollar", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mogollar/", "year": 1971, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A folk song arranged with organ and a rhythm section that keeps threatening to become funk. Moğollar were the scene's most disciplined band and the most studied.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Mo%C4%9Follar%20Ince%20%C4%B0nce%20Bir%20Kar%20Ya%C4%9Far", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=X6f-1rclNlw", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 3, "trackKey": "cem-karaca--yuh-yuh", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/cem-karaca--yuh-yuh/", "title": "Yuh Yuh", "artist": "Cem Karaca", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/cem-karaca/", "year": 1977, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Karaca sang about workers, migration and hunger until the 1980 coup made Turkey too dangerous for him and he left. The voice is enormous and entirely unornamented.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Cem%20Karaca%20Yuh%20Yuh", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wcEQOzqGLkE", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 4, "trackKey": "bar-s-manco--donence", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/bar-s-manco--donence/", "title": "Dönence", "artist": "Barış Manço", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/bar-s-manco/", "year": 1981, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Manço became a children's television presenter, which has obscured what a strange composer he was. Nine minutes, and it earns every one of them.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Bar%C4%B1%C5%9F%20Man%C3%A7o%20D%C3%B6nence", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=aRsi3SHma6c", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 5, "trackKey": "selda-bagcan--yaz-gazeteci-yaz", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/selda-bagcan--yaz-gazeteci-yaz/", "title": "Yaz Gazeteci Yaz", "artist": "Selda Bağcan", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/selda-bagcan/", "year": 1976, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "\"Write it down, journalist.\" Selda was imprisoned three times and had her passport confiscated; the fuzz bass on her records is as blunt as the lyrics.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "curator", "slug": "nineteen-seventy-six", "name": "1976", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-seventy-six/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Selda%20Ba%C4%9Fcan%20Yaz%20Gazeteci%20Yaz", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKfCicUoRE", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 6, "trackKey": "selda-bagcan--cemalim", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/selda-bagcan--cemalim/", "title": "Cemalim", "artist": "Selda Bağcan", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/selda-bagcan/", "year": 1975, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A lament for a dead boy, over a bassline Mos Def later sampled. The clearest evidence that this scene's records travel without any explanation attached.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Selda%20Ba%C4%9Fcan%20Cemalim", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F-k_Fr67bPQ", "exact": true } } }, { "rank": 7, "trackKey": "erkin-koray--kendim-ettim-kendim-buldum", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/erkin-koray--kendim-ettim-kendim-buldum/", "title": "Kendim Ettim Kendim Buldum", "artist": "Erkin Koray", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/erkin-koray/", "year": 1973, "label": null, "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "Koray's guitar tone is filthier here than anything coming out of Britain the same year, and the melody is a straight Anatolian folk line. Both facts at once is the whole genre.", "alsoOn": [], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Erkin%20Koray%20Kendim%20Ettim%20Kendim%20Buldum", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LyVcp9IC894", "exact": true } } } ] }