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Erkin Koray (born June 24, 1941), has been in the Turkish rock music scene since the late 1950s or early 1960s. He is widely acclaimed as being the first person to ever play rock and roll in Turkey; in 1957, he and his band gained notoriety by playing covers of Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. He was also one of the first Turkish musicians to embrace the electric guitar and modern amplification.
By the late 1960s, he was already a major figure in Turkish psychedelic
music and Anatolian Rock, beginning with his first psychedelic single
Anma Arkadaş in 1967. Koray followed this with a number of singles,
both by himself and in collaboration with others, that established him
as a force to be reckoned with on the Turkish rock scene. Koray became
a controversial figure in Turkey during the 1960s and 1970s; he was
actually assaulted in Istanbul, and on one occasion stabbed, for having
long hair.
In the early 1970s, he formed the group Ter with the former members of
Grup Bunalim (Turkish for "Group Depression"), a power trio styled
group. Although they only recorded one single before breaking up, Hor
Görme Garibi (a cover of the major Arabesque music hit by Orhan
Gencebay) was a smash hit, furthering Koray's career. However, Istanbul
Records, unhappy with Koray and Ter's musical direction, withdrew all
support and refused to let the group record, thus ending the group's
career. The music of Ter was influenced by glam rock and psychedelia,
and featured extended guitar solos and progressive arrangements -
something that the record company was not prepared to accept.
The Turkish public remained interested in Koray's solo work
nonetheless, and in 1973 his first album, Erkin Koray, was released. Up
to this point, all of Koray's work had been issued only on 45 rpm
records, although he had been recording for the past 10 years and was a
very popular artist in Turkey. The album consists of a collection of
singles from 1967 to 1973. Koray left Istanbul Records after the
release of the album.
In 1974, Erkin Koray signed to Doglan Records and released what is
probably his best-known and best-selling single, Şaşkın(Dabke). Set to
a traditional Egyptian tune, the single proved Koray to be an ingenious
musician and arranger.
1974 also saw the release of his groundbreaking album, Elektronik
Türküler ("Electronic Ballads"). Finally given the freedom to record an
album instead of being limited to 45 rpm singles, Koray and his band
created an album that reflected both his Turkish roots and his love of
psychedelic and progressive rock. The album's popularity continues to
the present day, with several legitimate and non-legitimate releases on
both album and CD. Elektronik Türküler is widely considered to be
Koray's masterpiece by many critics, and many of his subsequent
releases followed in this vein, with progressive and psychedelic
influences balanced by Turkish folk forms.
Koray continues to record and perform in Turkey to this day, and in
Turkish Music circles is often referred to as Erkin Baba ("Erkin the
Father") for his pioneering influence on Turkish popular music.
Other major hits by Koray are Fesuphanallah, Istemem, Sevince, Öyle Bir
Geçer Zaman ki , Estarabim, Arap Saçı, Yalnızlar Rıhtımı, Akrebin
Gözleri and Çöpçüler.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a flowering of interest in
psychedelic music made outside of the UK and the US brought Koray to
the attention of listeners in the West. Subsequently, both legitimate,
semi-legitimate, and bootleg versions of Koray's albums can be found in
the West. The 2005 documentary film "Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of
Istanbul" by Turkish-German director Fatih Akin emphasizes Koray's
influence on the younger generation of musicians that the film features.
Koray is also the inventor of the electric bağlama, a traditional
Turkish musical instrument related to the lute, and its unique sound
can be heard on many of his albums.
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