COMMENTS ON ERSEN :
"In Turkey everybody seems to hate Ersen but that's weird *; nobody can give some reasonable answer when you ask for the reasons. His first recording was "Kozan Dagý" (Mountain Of Kozan),1970. Though he had the cream cast of Anatolian Rock musicians by his side, he lost his way during 70's; getting far away from a rock oriented sound. He mainly worked with two bands: Kardaslar and Dadaslar. Those bands included some of the best musicians around: Taner Ongur (bass guitar, Mogollar), Fehiman Ugurdemir (electric saz, ýklýg, electric guitar, keyboards), Unol Buyukgonenç (Electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin), Ozkan Ugur (bass guitar, MFO).
There was a politic camp all along the 70's which put Mogollar, Cem Karaca and Selda on the left wing; while Ersen and Barýs Manco are located on the right wing. (Civil war era which ended in 1980 when army took over). That was not a clear discrimination for the latter two but Ersen turned out to be loser at the end of the story.).
Then in 80's, Ersen came on the surface to perform for army parties and police balls. He started to work with tavern musicians who had low quality and that made his bitter end. (-Manco became a mediatic hero in 80's then died like a king in 1999, Mogollar disappeared until 1992 and Cem Karaca was in exile until
1987-).
The last thing we heared that Ersen was living in Istanbul and dealing with financial exercises with brokers; but not doing music anymore.
To me the most interesting work he had done was with Mogollar (1968-69). And lately with Manço's "2023" album in 1975." E.K.
PS. From Hakan Tuna, Turkish musician in London I heard the opinion that Manço did take a more neutral position in that time, didn't involve himself with politics at all, but just worked out his carrier. At least his aproach to bring people together from different approaches survived and succeeded.
* "ll try o answer to your observation about Ersen:
"In Turkey everybody seems to hate Ersen but that's weird; nobody can give some resonable answer when you ask for the reasons."
Here is the answer:
That's true, may be not a hate, but let's say many people don't like him as they like Erkin, Baris, Cem, Edip and the others. That's about Ersen's changeable life style. Erkin was always a rocker, performed as a rocker, lived as a rocker, sometimes in very hard life conditions. Cem was following his political ideas, some of his songs were forbidden, he had to live out of his country for a while. Baris was always in the hearts of he people even after his death.Edip was the same humanly person 30 years ago and today...But Ersen had many different faces, mostly depending to the winds blowing in the country. It was possible to see him beside the democrat ideas, later while acclaiming the military administration. Recently, since a few years he is a religious Muslim. Just like his musical life, rock, pop, folk, arabesque..
Anyway, Ersen is an important performer with his nice Anatolian Rock songs during his early period. I like that works, and, his life style is in his responsibility." Guner
"Ersen was a singer who started his career with Mediterranean dance music, releasing several singles which are quite Spanish-flavored in style, but by 1970 he had joined the burgeoning Anadulo Rock scene. He woked woth Mogollar for a short while in 1970 (after their original singer, Aziz Azmet had left the band). Ersen released a moderately successful single backed by 3 Hürel and had a smash hit with "Kozan Dagi" in 1972. He was one of the best Anadolu Rock singer of his time with a softer tone than most contempories." Gökhan Aya & Jay Dobis
About single from 1974 :
"Bir Ayrilik Bir Yoksulluk Bir Olum" / "Yedin Beni"
Ersen, performed nearly all kind of Turkish music forms in his life adventure. Rock, pop, folk, arabesque... But the early years (early 70's) he was a successful psych-rock singer, unusual voice.
Especiallly the songs performed with the successful rock band Dadaslar are really beautiful samples of Turkish folk rock & psych music.
And, sure, "Bir Ayrilik Bir Yoksulluk Bir Olum" is one of the best sample of Ersen also Turkish Rock. A top performance of Dadaslar, unusual rhytm, unusual guitar sound, perfect harmony of instruments and vocals.
"Yedin Beni" An amazing rhytm, beat style guitar, harmony of east-west instruments. You'll hear a beautiful solo of Turkish saz (electronic) with bass guitar while the rhytms going on at the background.
Wonderful Dadaslar sound. " S.Fiye
