This Monkey's Gone To Anadolu--Mustafa Okzent Orkestrasi's Genclik Ile Elele--

Operators Are Standing By

This is an interesting 70's album from Turkey, reissued on the amazing collectors label Finders Keepers. If you are looking to hear exotic and eccentric music from all over the world, this is a great label to investigate. They have been reissuing a lot of things like rare psychedelic soundtracks and samplers of obscure music from places like Spain, Hungary and Wales. Check out the website and you'll probably find something to pique your curiosity.

The album I am featuring today is an instrumental album by the Mustafa Ozkent Orkestrasi. When I saw the monkey featured on the cover I knew I had to own this. My rule of thumb is usually if a monkey is on the cover, it's gotta be good. In this case it paid off; I wasn't as lucky with the Grandma's Boy Dvd. Actually the movie was a decent comedy, but when I saw the movie trailer with the kung fu chimpanzee I was pretty stoked. Unfortunately the movie turned out to be a bit of a letdown in the monkey department. Hopefully there will more chimp karate action in the directors cut of the film. But back to Finders Keepers.

There are liner notes, but there isn't a lot to say. The music is like a mix of Booker T and the MGs and a Blaxploitation movie soundtrack, with jazzy organ, clipped rhythm guitar, fuzzed out leads, and a lot of funk. The bass playing is phenomenal. Great breaks to sample for hip hop. It sounds great to me: if I close my eyes when I listen to this I imagine that a 70's detective show like Barretta will be on television when I open them. Definitely a good sound track for a road trip. Apparently prior to this reissue this album was a very rare item. But now it is easily available for you, thanks to the dogged determination of the Finders Keepers group.

For a lot of Americans, Turkish music is not well known. I am listening to some Turkish artists right now like Ersen, Selda, Baris Manco, Edip Bakaryan, Mogollar, Erkin Koray, Bunalim and Fikret Kizilok and I mostly like what I am hearing. There are also comps of 60's and 70's material like Have Narghile and Turkish Freakout. I also have the DVD Crossing The Bridge: The Sound Of Istanbul which is a nice introduction. I would not be surprised if Turkish rock becomes a lot more popular, just as Brazilian music did in the US a while back. While there are elements familiar to the ear, there is definitely a lot going on that is coming from their own cultural heritage. They definitely bring the funk plus a lot of traditional middle eastern song stylings. I can't say I really know very much about the current musical scene there right now. Duman seems like they might be a pretty good alternative band.

But if you like funky instrumental music, Genclik Ile Ellele may be just what you are looking for. For god's sake, there's a monkey on the cover!!!!