DISCO DANCES FROM TURKEY

Release event on April 17, 2024, at After Berlin, community space for audiophile listening: https://after.berlin/events/release-disco-dances-from-turkey

There are mysterious records. Records hiding and showing something at the same time. This is one of them. It is made from two records that were most probably released in the mid-1970s, most probably primarily by Turkish Roma.
It brings together what Anadolu pop music lovers always dream of: Anatolian geleneksel (traditional folk tunes), disco and funk, jazz and hard rock, psychedelic sounds, hard-hitting drums, Arabesk percussion, and hip-hop friendly breaks. Put together in a careful, smooth production with a warm, relaxed and dance-friendly vibe.
Here you get it: Roma-nized instrumental Turkish pop music in all its facets of the 1970s.

TRACKLIST:
A1 – Yagmur Yagdi Kac
A2 – Adana Ücayak
B1 – Sis Kebabi
B2 – Hint Geceleri
C1 – Cilli
C2 – Kalaycilar
D1 – Fesuphanallah
D2 – Zühtü
D3 – Harmandali

You can listen and preorder our STRICTLY LIMITED VINYL EDITION here:
www.deejay.de/Various_Artists_Disco_Dancers_-_From_Turkey_2x12_SR003_Vinyl__1040213
For UK and related countries: https://de.juno.co.uk/products/disco-dances-from-turkey-vinyl/991604-01/

Any profit made from this record will be
distributed to an organization for the
empowerment of young Roma musicians.

LP LINER NOTES:
There are mysterious records. Records hiding and showing something at the same time. This is one of them. It is made from two records that were most probably released in the mid-1970s, most probably primarily by Turkish Roma. The original records contain no information concerning the musicians, the composers, or the production – credits are completely missing. This hints to the anonymous, marginalized workforce that Turkish Roma have been for a long time in Turkish music history. Yet, the original records may also mark a turning point: an early attempt by Turkish Roma to produce – perhaps even under the protection of anonymity – their own music and to reach out for the music market themselves.

And what an attempt! It brings together what Anadolu pop music lovers always dream of: Anatolian geleneksel (traditional folk tunes), disco and funk, jazz and hard rock, psychedelic sounds, hard-hitting drums, Arabesk percussion, and hip-hop friendly breaks. Put together in a careful, smooth production with a warm, relaxed and dance-friendly vibe.

Roma are a basic part of (pre-)Ottoman and Turkish music history. They have been living in Western Anatolia since the ninth century, and in Istanbul for several hundred years. Roma have for a long time been famous for being excellent musicians, which led the booming Turkish music industry to take advantage of them. Popular Romani melodies and lyrics are embedded in arabesque melodies, Turkish classical music, and pop music. Being aware of the money made with their participation, the Roma started to come up with productions of their own in the late 1970s, stepping out of assistance and anonymity, placing their names on records and reclaiming their music as played by themselves.
How did the Turkish Roma enter pop music? Turkish popular music, including Anadolu pop, can be related to a very specific site: the gazino, a sort of music restaurant. It was a site of interethnic musicking, increasingly dominated by Turkish Roma as the numbers and influence of the other minorities declined with the new Turkish Republic being established in 1923. Impressed by the musical success of Roma in the gazino-s, the Turkish record industry started to market Roman oyun havası as an urban dance music genre in the 1970s. This genre subsequently became immensely popular across social strata in Istanbul and a favorite style of social dance music. In parallel, musicians of Romani origin – though still regarded as “outcast urban entertainers” (Michael Denning) – began to organize in the popular music market. From playing weddings to establishing orchestras, being studio musicians, music directors and eventually solo stars on stage, they managed to increase their income and develop social acceptance against the background of minority racism.

This record holds a collection of instrumental versions of well-known Anatolian vocal geleneksel. The instrumental versions are another strong hint for Roma being the musical force behind this record’s music. The Roma have – opposed to vocal oriented Anadolu pop – a long tradition of rendering vocal tunes in instrumental ones.
How is it done? It is done by connecting Roman oyun havası to all current pop music trends in Turkey of the time. It is a sentez, a synthesis, which is a musical principle not only for Romani music but also for Turkish music to the point that one could even define Turkish music as sentez music. The Anatolian pop sentez on this record is based on indigenization, especially with reference to Anatolian folk music, and on hybridization by connecting the folk music to various other Eastern and Western styles. Here you get it: Roma-nized instrumental Turkish pop music in all its facets of the 1970s. 

For further information see the additional liner notes “Disco Dances from Turkey – Another Angle: Disco Sulukule”:
www.fluctuating-images.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Disco-Dances-from-Turkey-–-Another-Angle.pdf

More information: https://seismorecords.bandcamp.com/album/disco-dances-from-turkey

Compiled by Cornelia Lund, Martin Georgi and Holger Lund, who compiled the Saz Beat series as well as the Bosporus Bridges series.
Executive Producer: M. Georgi
Restauration & vinyl mastering by Norman Nitzsche, Calyx (Berlin).
45rpm cut for enhanced sound quality.
Graphic design by Bureau Now.
Exclusive distribution by wordandsound.
Published by Seismographic Records
in cooperation with fluctuating images, 2023.
Any profit made from this record will be
distributed to an organization for the
empowerment of young Roma musicians.
Special thanks to Markus Lindner, Harald Faas and Emir Özer.
seismorecords.bandcamp.com
www.fluctuating-images.de
P C 2023 SR003.