Something New for You (and you and you and you)

Sermons! Vol 8: Türk Tırmanışı

Hello internet pals of music. Today we’re continuing to organize this mess with a new section called Special Select. Previous editions of the playlist are publicly available but will appear here soon.

---

I sometimes play my little records out at bars. I also sometimes put together my little playlists. One day I may try my little radio show.

I can only write so much about the music I try to bring you. Or, I want to share more than one song with you.

Occasionally, we need to go deeper. And we need to focus on the music and not whatever silly words I’m writing. Ultimately, SERMONS! is still just about the music and nothing more.

---

SERMONS! is reader-supported. If you’re wishing to support our work, I encourage you to become a subscriber. Otherwise, we’ll all probably forget about this thing.

---

In the early 2000s, I came across a record called Love, Peace & Poetry: Turkish Psychedelic Music. In fact, it was one of a series dedicated to “global psychedelic music”, and there were nine editions, although I have only ever heard this one, the Japanese, and the Mexican volumes.

I’d consider it a pivotal personal discovery.

I texted a friend the other day to share my excitement that Selda Bağcan is playing in Houston in April. I was surprised (not really) that he wasn’t as delighted as I was, but it made sense when he told me he didn’t really know much of her music. While Selda may be better known in certain circles as the sample source on the Mos Def song Supermagic¹, there’s so much to dig into with her, including the political climate that found her jailed and eventually living in exile. I told him I’d put together a list of songs to check out, which then instead of a Selda list for him became a playlist of twenty of my favourite Turkish songs for you.

Other than the sublime version of Nem Kaldı by the contemporary Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek, the songs in this playlist were released from around the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. As hard as it was, I’ve made sure that no artist is represented more than once, and I tried to create a slightly broader representation than a compilation like Love, Peace & Poetry does. While all of this is a bit psychedelic, there’s less of the hard rock side of things—this isn’t really a “Turkish Psych” compilation, so nothing like 3 Hürel on this. The english translation for this playlist is supposed to be Turkish Ascent, although I’m sure that’s not right. But please ascend anyway.

Hopefully, this either:

A) Makes for a great soundtrack to an evening of eating well, drinking better and laughing and loving as hard as you ever will.

B) Makes for an introduction to a dynamic culture of music that deserves much recognition and carries through 2024 with musicians like Gaye Su Akyol and Altin Gün (who put on one of the best shows I saw in 2023).

---

SERMONS! is brought to you by Musik Klub. You can also find Jamie on Twitter and Instagram, if that’s your thing. Like what you’re hearing? Help spread the word!

---

Musik Klub: “Everythang’s Workin”

1. Selda issued a statement to Mos Def: “Your style is very effective but I expect you to respect the labor of others”. She hit ‘em with a copyright suit as well.