Baba Zula
Encyclopedia
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
in 1996, featuring founding members Levent Akman and Murat Ertel as well as Coşar Kamçı, who replaced original member Emre Onel in 2005. BaBa Zula added live drawing artist Ceren Oykut into the mix in 2004. She left the band in 2010. Her presence onstage had added an important visual aspect to BaBa Zula's live performances. Akman, Ertel, and Onel originally formed Baba Zula as a side project of now disbanded Anatolian rock
Anatolian rock
Anatolian rock is a fusion of Turkish folk and rock music. It emerged during the mid-1960s, soon after rock groups such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Status Quo and Omega became popular in Turkey...
group Zen.
Musical style
Baba Zula go to great lengths to provide their fans with a unique live show experience. Their ritual-like performances are a mixture of disciplines of art, often featuring belly danceBelly dance
Belly dance or Bellydance is a "Western"-coined name for a traditional "Middle Eastern" dance, especially raqs sharqi . It is sometimes also called Middle Eastern dance or Arabic dance in the West, or by the Greco-Turkish term çiftetelli...
rs, elaborate costumes, poetry, theatre and live animation, delivering viewers a tantalizing audio-visual feast.
By mixing oriental instruments such as the darbuka, electric saz, and spoons with electronics and modern sounds, BaBa Zula creates a sound all their own called "Oriental Dub". While a ney
Ney
The ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found...
can represent the past Sufi-Islamic tradition, and a clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
is the symbol of the music of the Turkish gypsies, an electric saz together with a wooden spoon can serve as a musical compass to Turkish musical roots going as far back as pre-Islamic, shamanic times, through Anatolia reaches all the way up to present-day Istanbul. Despite sounds that might initially come to mind when one hears the phrase "Oriental Dub", Baba Zula's music is in fact rock'n roll that rolls in a way that westerners have not heard since the late 1960s rock epoch. Baba Zula share their legacy with us through their music, a music born out of Istanbul and influenced by the memories of Istanbul passed on to them from generations past.
The group, which from the very beginning has shown great interest in featuring guest musicians and players in concerts and albums, has been accompanied by stars such as the Thracian Selim Sesler (clarinet master), the Canadian singer Brenna MacCrimmon
Brenna MacCrimmon
Brenna MacCrimmon is a Canadian folk singer from Toronto, Ontario, who has been performing, studying and teaching Balkan and Turkish music since the late 1980s. She speaks and sings perfect Turkish and is internationally acclaimed as a Turkish folk singer....
(specialized in Balkan folk music), Alexander Hacke
Alexander Hacke
Alexander Hacke is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, experimental / industrial / electronic musician from Germany....
(E.N.), Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
(from Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
, John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, etc), Jaki Liebezeit
Jaki Liebezeit
Jaki Liebezeit is a drummer probably best known as a founding member of Can who has been called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral"....
(Can), Hüsnü Şenlendirici (clarinet player from "Laço Tayfa"), Ralph Carney
Ralph Carney
Ralph Carney is an American musician. While his primary instruments are various saxophones and clarinets, Carney collects and plays many instruments, often unusual or obscure ones....
from San Francisco (saxophonist who worked with Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
and The B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
) and the diva Semiha Berksoy
Semiha Berksoy
Semiha Berksoy was one of the first Turkish opera singers, the prima donna of the Turkish opera, a painter, and an internationally acclaimed artist....
(first Turkish opera singer and painter).
Baba Zula's debut album, Tabutta Rovasata (Sommersault in the Coffin), re-released by Kadraj in 2006, includes the original music score for Dervis Zaim
Dervis Zaim
Derviş Zaim is a Turkish Cypriot filmmaker and novelist, who has twice won the Golden Orange for Best Director for Elephants and Grass and Dot ; Golden Oranges for Best Film and Best Screenplay for Somersault in a Coffin ; and the Yunus Nadi literary prize for his debut novel Ares in Wonderland...
's first movie of the same name released in 1996, about a car thief who returns the cars he has stolen to their original owners and falls in love with a peacock. The album also includes four songs on which the movie's stars Ahmet Ugurlu, Tuncel Kurtiz
Tuncel Kurtiz
Tuncel Kurtiz is a Turkish theatre, movie and TV series actor, playwright and film director. Since 1964, he has acted in more than 70 movies, including many international productions.- Biography :...
and Aysel Aydemir contribute vocals.
Baba Zula's album Three Plays from Seventeen pieces (Doublemoon Records) comprising music created for the plays The Little Prince
The Little Prince
The Little Prince , first published in 1943, is a novella and the most famous work of the French aristocrat writer, poet and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ....
by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Frog Tales by Arnold Lobel
Arnold Lobel
Arnold Stark Lobel was a popular American author of children's books. Among his most popular books are those of the Frog and Toad series, and Mouse Soup, which won the Garden State Children's Book Award from the New Jersey Library Association.Lobel won the 1981 Caldecott Medal for his book...
and Kitchen Accidents by Perihan Mağden
Perihan Magden
Perihan Mağden is a Turkish writer, known for her wit. She is currently a columnist for the newspaper Taraf. She was tried and acquitted for calling for opening the possibility of conscientious objection to mandatory military service in Turkey....
, was released in 1999. Along with a number of other artists, Ralph Carney, Brenna McCrimmon and Selim Sesler also took part in this album as guest stars. Baba Zula also made the music for the film Renkli Türkçe (Colored and in Turkish), directed by Ahmet Cadırcı.
Their third album Psychebelly Dance Music, released in May 2003, was mixed and mastered by the British musician and producer Mad Professor
Mad Professor
Mad Professor is a dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music’s second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. He is a prolific producer, contributing to or...
, who previously worked with Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
, The Orb
The Orb
Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...
and Lee Perry.
Their fourth album Duble Oryantal, which was released on Doublemoon Records in May 2005, reunited them with mix-master Mad Professor, Sly & Robbie and Alexander Hacke
Alexander Hacke
Alexander Hacke is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, experimental / industrial / electronic musician from Germany....
and reflects the culmination of years of fearless musical adventuring, and as usual there is a talented and eclectic supporting cast.
On the 2007 release Roots, Baba Zula return to their original format as a trio and only the core members of the BaBa Zula family, such as vocalist Brenna MacCrimmon, can be heard on only one song. The group also show off a new perspective on their trademark sound "oriental dub", courtesy of the group's first trip to Japan in the spring of 2007, where they befriended a Japanese sound engineer. Traditional Turkish influences on the album include works by important composers and lyricists in the history of Turkish music, such as Neşet Ertaş
Neset Ertas
Neşet Ertaş is a Turkish folk music singer, lyrics writer and a virtuoso of the traditional Turkish instrument bağlama. His profession in Turkish is known as halk şairi, which literally means "folk poet"....
and Pir Sultan Abdal
Pir Sultan Abdal
Pir Sultan Abdal was a legendary Turkish Alevi poet, whose direct and clear language as well as the richness of his imagination and the beauty of his verses led him to become loved among the Turkish people. Pir Sultan Abdal reflected the social, cultural and religious life of the people; he was a...
as well as analog recording techniques courtesy of Turkish producer Mehmet Ateş.
Baba Zula have composed several mood-setting pieces for movies over the years. Their most recent release is an original score for the film Dondurmam Gaymak. The band also appeared in the Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
award-winning director Fatih Akın
Fatih Akin
Fatih Akın is a German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent.- Personal life :Akın was born in 1973 in Hamburg to parents of Turkish ethnicity...
's film Crossing the Bridge
Crossing the Bridge
Crossing the Bridge is an American film starring Josh Charles, Stephen Baldwin and Jason Gedrick.Characters Mort Golden , Tim Reese and Danny Morgan are friends who embark on a dangerous drug-smuggling venture.The film was created by Mike Binder and loosely based on Binders' friends during the...
, that explores the sounds of Istanbul. The group also provided music for the film by recording with Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
's Alexander Hacke
Alexander Hacke
Alexander Hacke is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, experimental / industrial / electronic musician from Germany....
.
Baba Zula have performed at festivals such as the Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
(Denmark), Sofia Film Festival (Bulgaria), Klinkende Munt Festival] (Belgium), Arezzo Wave Festival (Italy), Images of Middle East (multi-city Denmark tour), Cologne Triennale (Germany), Printemps de Bourges
Printemps de Bourges
Le Printemps de Bourges is an annual music festival that is held in Bourges, France, during five days. It is now a major event in France and Europe....
(France), Şimdi/Now Festival (Germany), Era Nowe Horyzonty (Wrocław, Poland), the Boost Festival (Netherlands) and the Venice Biennial.
Members
- Murat Ertel – lead vocalsLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, sazBaglamathumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
, other strings, thereminThereminThe theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
(1996- ) - Levent Akman – percussion, drum machineDrum machineA drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
(1996- ) - Çoşar Kamçı – goblet drumGoblet drumThe goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....
(2003- )
Former members
- Emre Onel– goblet drumGoblet drumThe goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....
, samplerSampler (musical instrument)A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
(1996–2003) - Ceren Oykut – live video (2004-2010)
Guest musicians
International guests:- Sly DunbarSly DunbarLowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
and Robbie Shakespeare - Alexander HackeAlexander HackeAlexander Hacke is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, experimental / industrial / electronic musician from Germany....
, bass guitarist of Einstürzende NeubautenEinstürzende NeubautenEinstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U... - Canadian vocalist Brenna MacCrimmonBrenna MacCrimmonBrenna MacCrimmon is a Canadian folk singer from Toronto, Ontario, who has been performing, studying and teaching Balkan and Turkish music since the late 1980s. She speaks and sings perfect Turkish and is internationally acclaimed as a Turkish folk singer....
Turkish guests:
- clarinetist Hüsnü Şenlendirici from Laço Tayfa
- Turkish rock and pop Özkan UğurÖzkan UgurRaif Özkan Uğur is a Turkish pop musician, member of the renowned band MFÖ and an actor.He started his musician career in the Şerif Yüzbaşıoğlu Orchestra as a bass guitarist. In 1971, Özkan joined Mazhar Alanson and Fuat Güner in the duo "Kaygısızlar" The band was dissolved in 1972...
from MFÖMFO-Organisation:* Maison Française d'Oxford, a French research institute based in Oxford, England* Multinational Force and Observers, an international peacekeeping force; or the related medal... - writer-painter-musician Mehmet GüreliMehmet GüreliMehmet Güreli is a Turkish writer, painter, director and musician born in 1949 in Istanbul, Turkey. He graduated from Istanbul University, majoring in Philosophy. He started working in Hürriyet newspaper in 1976...
Discography
- 1996 - Tabutta Rövaşata - soundtrack for Tabutta Rövaşata ("Somersault in the Coffin") by Derviş ZaimDervis ZaimDerviş Zaim is a Turkish Cypriot filmmaker and novelist, who has twice won the Golden Orange for Best Director for Elephants and Grass and Dot ; Golden Oranges for Best Film and Best Screenplay for Somersault in a Coffin ; and the Yunus Nadi literary prize for his debut novel Ares in Wonderland...
(Ada Music) - 1999 - Üç Oyundan Onyedi Müzik (Doublemoon)
- 2003 - Psychebelly Dance Music (Ruhani Oyun Havaları)(Doublemoon, mixed by Mad Professor)
- 2005 - Duble Oryantal (DoublemoonDoublemoonFounded in 1998 as an offshoot of Pozitif Productions, Doublemoon Records, is an independent pioneering label based in Istanbul, Turkey dedicated to spreading the cultural tapestry that is the city’s sound around the world...
, mixed by Mad Professor) - 2006 - Dondurmam Gaymak - soundtrack for Dondurmam GaymakIce Cream, I ScreamIce Cream, I Scream is an award-winning 2006 Turkish comedy film written and directed by Yüksel Aksu. Only one professional actor, Turan Özdemir, starred in the movie, the rest being residents of Muğla, Turkey....
("Ice Cream, I Scream") by Yüksel Aksu (Rh Pozitif) - 2007 - Kökler (Doublemoon)
- 2010 - Gecekondu (Doublemoon)
Performances
- Performed before Manu Chao 2002 Efes Pilsen Summer Festival.
- Mediterranean Film Festival Cologne
- Cologne Triennale (Germany)
- Printemps de BourgesPrintemps de BourgesLe Printemps de Bourges is an annual music festival that is held in Bourges, France, during five days. It is now a major event in France and Europe....
(France) - Şimdi/Now Festival (Germany)
- Boost Festival (NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
) - Roskilde FestivalRoskilde FestivalRoskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
(Denmark) (3 July 2004) - Venn Festival on 3 June 2006
- Ariano Folk Festival on 26 August 2006
The band also appeared in the film Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul is a 2005 film/documentary directed by Fatih Akın. The film is a journey through the music scene in modern Istanbul, Turkey as well as portraying its cultural life. It was screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.It features German...
(2005) by Fatih Akın
Fatih Akin
Fatih Akın is a German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent.- Personal life :Akın was born in 1973 in Hamburg to parents of Turkish ethnicity...
. It is a documentary on the music of Istanbul, played and recorded with Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten
Einstürzende Neubauten is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld , Alexander Hacke , N.U...
's Alexander Hacke
Alexander Hacke
Alexander Hacke is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, experimental / industrial / electronic musician from Germany....
. The band performs the song "Tavus Havası".
External links
- Baba Zula.com - Official website
- Baba Zula at Innerviews
- Review in Die Presse