"There was such a blasting of bands that one of the biggest national newspapers called Hürriyet decided to organise a big contest that would help the young amateur bands have their names heard throughout the country. What the contest organisers wanted was interesting: the musicians who wanted to attend the contest had to either compose songs in Turkish or arrange a traditional tune. Also they had to perform this in a western style with electric western instruments! The ones who ware finalists ware to perform live In many cities that the newspapers arranged a tour for them. If Altin Mikrofon had not been assembled, we wouldn't likely to be talking about 60's & 70's Turkish rock scene." G.Aya
"Altin Mikrofon 'The Golden Microphone' song contest was first held in 1965 to help give a new direction to contemporary turkish music through the use of western techniques, forms and instruments. The finalists would get their contest song (and a song of their choice) recorded and printed as a single and sold on the music market for revenues which were left solely to the benefit of these groups." T.L.
Tukish Altin Mikrofon introduction page at
Page with a examples of singles at
The style on these singles varies from rockn'roll crossovers, beat, garage, twist..to Anatolian music with some pop elements.
Recently a 3 CD set has been released in Turkey covering possibly all ? singles (A & B sites) from the Altin Mikrofon contest.
You can find all the covers from the singles from this contest at the next pages :
-(where the crossover style was new and people were still looking for a new sound)-
-(where The Shadows influence is still as clear as ever on these examples)-
-(where the appearance of the organ gives various examples an extra psychedelic touch)-
There are two other (recommended) compilation albums recently issued which contain many of the songs from the early days of Turkish beat (1967-1969 mostly). :
26 songs 22 songs
"Turkish Delights" mostly covers the Turkish beat and garage, earlier '60's stuff.
"Hava Narghile" mostly covers the more progressive music tracks within the Anadolu Pop / Rock movement, mostly end '60's and '70's stuff . Luckily there's no overlapping of songs in both compilations.
Many remarks from Gökhan Aya on seperate Web Pages from Turkish groups are taken from the booklet from Turkish Delights. A few remarks which come from "G.A. and Jay Dobis" are taken from the "Hava Narghile" compilation. 2 movie pictures published on that compilation can be seen at my Fairuz Derin page, a new Turkish group who used such an old picture on the cover of their album.
Remark from 2003 :
"If I myself would make a perfect (70-75 minutes) compilation of the recordings from 1965-1978 and if I would leave out Ersen, Erkin Koray, Fikret Kizilok, Selda, Cem Karaca, the Mogollar LP, Murat Ses, Manço, and the tracks from the 'Hava Narghile' compilation (at least 4 tracks are not to miss either, including some from Baris Manço,..) my compilation would look like this :
Siluetler : Lorke-Lorke
Haramiler : Aya Bak Yildiza Bak
Haramiler : Camlica Yolunda
Yabancilar : Agit
Mavi Cocuklar : Tamzara
Selçuk Alagöz : Ararim
Cahit Oben : Sey
Cahit Oben : Karacoaglan
Rana Alagöz : Konya Kabagi
Selçuk Alagöz : Edremit Va'a Bakas
Mogollar : Lazy John
Alpay : "Raman"
Emin Findikogli : Cecen Kizi
Erol büyükburc & Özel Orkestrasi : "Zuleyha"
TPAO Orchestra : Kara Torak
Mustafa Özkent Orkestrasi : Dolanda
Okay Temiz : Denizalti Ruzgarlari
Okzay Temiz : Zikir
Okay Temiz : Cay Elinden
Orhan Gencebay : Laeyla ile Mecnun
P.S. : The second and third track by Okay Temiz could be left out.
I'm sure there will be some other essential tracks by Okay Temiz that
I didn't hear yet. Also Orhan Gencebay might have many other essential tracks."
Soon I add here a list of tracks I find "MUSTS for prog lovers" from the classic names
a suggestion for good compilation of new items is listed at my new compilations page
If you want to know which tracks I played of these 2 latest compilation albums look at my playlist
of the radio program "Psyche van het Folk",on Radio Centraal, Antwerpen, Belgium.
This page all links updated 2003-02-24
