december-2009

PHOTOS © SERKAN TAYCAN
ONSTAGE, ALEXANDER HACKE, a
heavily moustachioed Berliner in a
jumpsuit and sailor hat, is manning the
DJ decks, a doll-like American woman
is singing, there are two belly dancers,
several Turkish musicians playing
traditional instruments, and the stage
effects include heavy-metal lighting and
a strange black-and-white fi lm of a
clown. The show is aptly named Ship
of Fools and it’s just another night
at Babylon, I ˙ stanbul’s most eclectic
nightspot and the epicentre of the city’s
anarchic music scene.
Stretching from Taksim Square to
Tünel is I ˙ stiklal Caddesi (Independence
Avenue) the most popular shopping strip
on the European side of I ˙ stanbul. Behind
the main drag with its grand buildings
and bland international chains, you’ll
fi nd a network of lanes sheltering an
alternative universe. Here hipster cafés,
clubs, music venues like Babylon, and
graffi ti art happily co-exist with more
traditional backgammon boards and
stray cats. I ˙ stanbul is a youthful city; its
population hovers at just over 12 million
and the average age is around 28. The
number of teenagers alone suggests why
I ˙ stanbul is undergoing one hell of
a musical renaissance.
BACK HOME IN Berlin, and presumably
out of the jumpsuit, Alexander Hacke
says: “I ˙ stanbul is in the hands of the
young. Music in Turkey has a completely
different weight and importance. The
capital in particular consumes and
cherishes it.” Hacke produced the fi lm
score for the Turkish-German fi lm
Head On and collaborated with its
director Fatih Akin on the Turkish music
documentary Crossing the Bridge. He
is part of an international network of
musicians collaborating with a new breed
of Turkish artists.
“Some cities get their time in the
spotlight – in Berlin it was in the 1980s
and with the new millennium, a window
opened in I ˙ stanbul and things fell into
place. [Geographically] it is aligned for a
clash of cultures and progress happens
because of the possibilities for friction
between cultures. They feed on each
other. It’s the opposite of purism –
it’s not a monoculture.”
At the epicentre of this anti-purism
is Ahmet Ulu˘g, co-owner of three
interconnected music businesses in
I ˙ stanbul, including Babylon nightclub
and Doublemoon Records, an imprint
that is to I ˙ stanbul’s fusion music
scene what, say, Blue Note Records
was to jazz. Citing I ˙ stanbul’s historic
connections that stretch from the
Mediterranean to China, Ahmet says:
“I ˙ stanbul is at the centre of the world.
This cosmopolitanism is what makes the
sound of I ˙ stanbul unique. We are open to
both the East and the West.” Founded in
1998, Doublemoon Records “is dedicated
to spreading the cultural tapestry that
is the city’s sound around the world”.
This means unlikely yet magicalsounding
combinations ranging from
Sufi -electronica to gypsy funk, oriental
hip-hop and Anatolian blues.
Many of I ˙ stanbul’s rising stars of
fusion music are signed by Doublemoon,
and its artists perform at Babylon
alongside the best and most eclectic
local musicians and their international
collaborators. For visitors, Babylon
“I THINK MY
MUSIC TELLS
THE STORY OF
TURKEY AS
A WHOLE”
FUSION MUSIC | ISTANBUL
★ ISTANBUL’S
FIVE FUSION
CLASSICS
★ Turkey’s Eminem
“God punished hip-hop with me.” So
goes a line by Ceza, Turkey’s answer to
Eminem. Anyone who has struggled to
pronounce the multi-syllabic Turkish
word for “thank you” (tes˛ekkür ederim)
without coming up for air will be in awe
of his machine-gun staccato on Rapstar,
the album that launched him.
myspace.com/ceza
★ Acoustic Meets Electronic
Mercan Dede’s (pictured) album Su
(Water) is the perfect choice for crossing
from Europe to Asia in a ferry on the
Bosphorus. mercandede.com
★ Statements in Song
Sung in her Kurdish mother-tongue,
Aynur Dogˇan’s album Keçe Kurdan
(Kurdish Girl) is a signpost in the struggle
for democratic freedom in Turkey. It was
a hit when released on label Kalan Müzik.
myspace.com/aynurdoganfans
★ Essential Collection
The recent I ˙ stanbul Twilight compilation
is a crash-course in Turkish fusion music,
featuring tracks by the Taksim Trio,
Burhan Öçal & Trakya All Stars, Baba
Zula, the Orient Expressions and more.
★ Ground-Breaking Documentary
Crossing the Bridge: the Sound of
I ˙ stanbul was a long-time dream for
director Fatih Akin, but it wasn’t until he
won a Golden Bear for Head On at the
Berlin Film Festival that he could fund this
remarkable music documentary.
DECEMBER 09 | TRAVELLER | 69