AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
Live Direct to Disc - Night Dreamer - ND0003 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl
Recorded direct-to-disc on Thursday 22nd & Friday 23rd August 2019 at Artone Studio and in collaboration with Gulbaba Records.
BaBa ZuLa describe their sound as ‘Psychedelic Istanbul Rock ’n Roll’ – a heady mixture that laces the classic Anadolu psych sound with modern electronics, dubwise studio smarts, and fiery left-field sonic radicalism. Founded in 1996 after the break up of experimental band ZeN, BaBa ZuLa began by scoring for film, before developing a style that pushed the classic Turkish psych sound of the 1970s forward into the 21 st century.
The band are led by electric saz player Osman Murat Ertel, who grew up in the creative musical milieu of 1960s Istanbul. It was an era of innovation, when a new wave of musicians such as Erkin Koray and Barış Manço, and groups like Moğollar and Bunalım, were fusing the ancient folklore sounds of rural Anatolia with international psychedelic rock and pop to create the renowned musical fusion now known as Anadolu psych. Among the most important innovations of the era was the electrification of the saz, a seven-string bouzouki-like instrument also known as a baglama that dates back to 1000BC, and which is the most important instrument in Turkish folklore. As the microtonal sound of the saz was cranked up through electrification
Osman Murat Ertel: Electric Saz, Vocal
Mehmet Levent Akman: Spoons, Cymbals, Electronics
Ümit Adakale: Darbuka, Electronic Kick Drum
Periklis Tsoukala: Baritone Electric Oud, Vocals
Recorded at Artone Studio
A - Kücük Kurbaga
‘Froggie’, a song composed for Ertel’s son, is 15 minutes of echoing fuzz and resonant rhythm
with a dash of electronics, with Ertel playing a special electric saz that, like many instruments
utilised by BaBa ZuLa, he designed himself.
B - Sipa (dub)
‘The Foal’ was composed for a donkey and its foal that Ertel met with during a journey to Turkey’s
Aegean coast. The band’s oud player and keyboardist Periklis Tsoukalas takes the lead on vocals
and on electric oud – the latter also an instrument of his own design.
C1 - Kelebekler Kuslar
‘Butterflies and Birds’. A song based on a stanza by the 14th century mystical poet Nesîmî, in
which the poet dreams of visiting both sky and earth. Ertel plays the smaller-sized Cura saz – the
faster parts represent the quick movement of butterflies, while the slower sections soar like birds.
C2 - 4 Nal
‘4 Horseshoes’
A breath-taking, head-nodding showcase for BaBa ZuLa’s virtuoso percussionist Ümit Adakale.
D1 - Tavus Havasi
‘Peacock Mood’
A version of the very first BaBa ZuLa song ever written, composed by Ertel beside the sea after
hearing a gull call which reminded him of the cry of the peacock. The composition originally
appeared as the first song on the soundtrack for the film Tabutta Rövaşata, BaBa ZuLa’s first
release in 1996.
D2 - Çöl Aslanlari
‘Desert Lions’
A favourite in BaBa ZuLa’s live sets, the brooding ‘Çöl Aslanlari’ was composed for a 1998 stage
production of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince.
