(Songs used in the Mogollar radio show) :
* "Namus Belasi" : "was a golden hit. It means "Unfortunate Honor".and is a story about a man who kills someone as a revenge of honor for loving his sister. Cem wrote the song as a protest against such 'revenge killings'.."
"Namus Belasi" is a Turkish saying which means something like "my woman's virginity makes me troubled". It is a song from the jail, tells the story of a prisoner, and the reason he has been sent to the jail. If a woman was treated, raped the husband had to kill the rapers, especially because of the virginity of the family. Common sense (in low grades again) forces you to act "blood to blood". Because of the "fucking" virginity concept, why should I give up from my life (in the song he says "this is my life that I gave up because of the virginity concept". Because of the "fucking" virginity concept, why should I shoot. Because of the "fucking" virginity concept, why should I am sent to the prison.
Again this is a metamorphosis, the husband says "she is my wife, if you touch her, I kill you, no matter how long I should stay in the prison". Again, on the background, this is the critic of this concept by subliming the concept of "blood to blood". This is why later, Cem did not want to sing this song because he thought that the song led the people makes the justice themselves. But the song it self, is more than what it says, with its 9/8 beat and powerful melody and vocals, became a hit in 1974 and later during the late 90s. Mogollar is the band." dikenlitel
* "Edali Gelin" : ?
* "Obur Dunya", "was another huge hit, and another protest song, about a world that's eating away at everyone; the world of Ataturk, religious masters, philosophers, social politics, lovers etc. "
(Songs used in the Cem Karaca,3 Hürel, Ersen radio show) :
* APASLAR "Gilgamis" 1969 : "This is the greatest song performed by Apaslar. It's written by the famous
Mehmet Soyarslan. Leon Habib : Drums, Seyhan Karabay : Bass, Mehmet Soyarslan : solo guitar. A must-know song for underground music lovers" Ozan.D.
"One of the pinnacles of Turkish psychedelic Rock, this track clearly defines the Apaslar approach. Apaslar was one of the many bands that started out as clones of the Shadows in the early 60's but gradually developed into an innovative instrumental rock band from '67 onwards. Their collaborations with singer Cem Karaca put them at the top of the Turkish pop charts and it was with this group it led to great success in Germany." Gökhan A.& Jay D.
* with APASLAR : "Hudey" : "The lyrics were taken from the work of Pir Sultan Abdal (a Turkish Philosopher). An English style Beat song, but made special with the addition of Cem Karaca's Turkish vocals and scales."
* "Anadolu Oyun Havasi " : "is Rock'n'Roll oriented but opens with an Anatolian scale.. Now and then we hear Mehmet Soyarslan's guitar solos in a Blues Scale...This is a very early example of the fusion of eastern and western music. Experimental in its conception and a must-know song too."
* with APASLAR : "Suya Giden Alli Gelin" : ""The lyrics belong to Karacaoglan (a Turkish Philisopher). It's essentially a rock 'n 'roll song, but with additional hard rock tones, and of course great Cem Karaca vocals."
* "Kara Uzum" : ""Another collector's favourite. A typical Anatolian 5/8 Scaled song written by Cem himself.." "One remark (by Ozan D.) : the guitars sound OK but because of the poor quality of the recording the drums can not be heard well, but I'm sure that Huseyin Sultanoglu gave his best on this song."
* "Karacaoglan" is a typical slow beat song which was popular at the time it was released, again with lyrics by Karacaoglan.
* At the beginning of "Ihtarname" a typewriter is heard leading the rhythm, with additional sound/music collages, with traditional Turkish folk and a few jazz chords- "This is a satirical song which pokes fun at a government which should wake up to the problems it faces, from the environment to serious crime. Again with furious vocals by Cem."
* "Gecenin Karasini" : was probably made with the backing band Kardaslar but was never released on any official recordings.. When I asked Cem about it, he said "I can't remember when it was made exactly, but I think it was with Apaslar and we released it as a 45'' as Giy Giy /Gecenin Karasini" But..when Gökhan of Apaslar asked the other musicians in the band they said they never did a song like this, so probably Cem & Kardaslar wrote it, recorded it as a demo and then discarded it. Only much later was it released on the compilation album "The Best of Cem Karaca Vol III". Even the people close to Cem have never heard about the existence of such an single and Cem is not that forthcoming about the origin or motivation for the song. It is a kind of ballad for lovers, perhaps about a woman who felt in love with him, who knows?. The sound though is 100% Kardaslar, but neither Kardaslar nor Apaslar remember recording it. A bit of a mystery. . while Cem says " with Apaslar we did"....It's not on any Discograhpy. Possibly "Gecenin Karasini" originally was never released, but might have remained a demo with Kardaslar ?
* "Parka" (or here) : "This song was written for some of Cem's friends who were murdered under suspicious circumstances. Cem believed the government of the time were involved in the killing of his friends, and the song is tribute to them. " When it was recorded in Germany he thought the Turkish government would ban it and so he decided to stay abroad after its release. And he was right to. It was this song along with Ihtarnahme which led the Turkish government to issue a warrant for his arrest. During this period Turkey was in chaos after the military coup and the army was rounding up anyone believed to be involved in political activities which might undermine the stability of the Turkish state, including writers, philosophers and artists. Since Cem was identified as one such person by the military, his album "May 1" was banned. He was granted amnesty in 1987 but he did not become involved in music again until a few years later.
* "Deniz Ustu Kopurur" : "Another lyrical song about friendship. A massive hit in Turkey, also covered by Cem Karaca with Mogollar. Here Cahit Berkay performes it with Kabak Kemane as an experimental electric Guitar duo."
* "Olum" : A Hard Rock song with Cem's lyrics. Cem writes : "Some people eat caviar while others eat just onion and bread, but in the end we are all buried". It's a song about honesty; that even in death we must be honest. Engin Yorukoglu is on drums, Ahmet Guvenc and Cahit Berkay on bass, the acoustic and electric guitar work is done by Cengiz Koroglu and Ugur Dikmen plays the keyboards (the old dinosaurs).
* "Safinaz" "(a 20 minute symphonic poprock song seemingly with reference to Brel ?-): "The lyrics are about a girl whose father works to buy a luxury apartment somewhere in Istanbul. They are poor and the family has to work hard. Safinaz goes to school, but after a while she is forced to give up school and start working in a factory to bring money into the home. Niyazi, a guy who works in the same factory, is heard talking on the song (recited by Cem). His life is a mess. He's wasting his father's money and he's lazy. He buys some make-up for Safinaz and they both go out into town. Some time later at Ramaddhan Safinaz's father, a Muslim with an Ottoman mentality, hears about it and attacks Safinaz. She leaves the house to which Cem shouts "Who's responsible? She is free-spirited and honest. Her only fault is being poor and wanting to live like others. But when money crosses her path her life remains cruel. Discarded by her family, prostitution beckons, she tries to find a husband, but never knows if he's a pimp. Who's responsible for this ? Safinaz is just like an angel but her life is being destroyed. It is not she who is responsible for her fate, but others." In this song Cem reminds everybody of their responsibility to those who go through hard times."
* "Seyh Bedreddin Destani" : "Bedreddin is the world's first socialist, pre-Marx and Engels, who was against the Ottoman system of hereditary power and nepotism. He assembles a small army to fight the Sultan and goes to war against the Ottoman empire from within. The song is about the war which takes place on the front-lines. In the end he loses the war, fighting for democracy but paying with his life. With this song, Cem uses his music to promote the idea of a freer system. He says, "It happened centuries ago,but the same things (repression) are still acceptable in this world.
* "Kalender" is a song for the socialist prisoners.
"is a MUST LISTEN, has an unusual sound in Anotalian rock. "Limping" traditional rhytm in rock forms. A beauttiful sample of Turkish instruments' harmony with guitars. Here "Sehan Karabay" played a very special Anotalian instrument IKLIG a kind of Turkish VIOLA. This is also a MUST LISTEN, an excellent harmony of iklig and guitars while the bass and drums going on the rock rhytms." S.Fiye
* "Kavga" (=fight, struggle)
"Kavga tells the story of Turkish people's struggle against the invaders during the 1st World War 1915-1919 and after then during the Liberty War, 1919 to 1923. Pretty leftist, rebellion, guerilla, partisan song. However Cem Karaca did not prefer to call it as "rebel" since it was a Liberty War (first of its kind in the world) against invaders which it was the Turkish people's right to do it. As Cem said he was inspired by the character called Laz Ismail in the poem by Nazim Hikmet who was one of the first communists in Turkey. Mot a mot, it is about, 2 bro 1 sis, later joined by 3 sisters, together, take the guns from a hiding place to bring to the fighters, sail through the Black Sea which is very tough, nobody knows if they achieved. As in The Wall of Pink Floyd says "Together we stand, divided we fall", Cem Karaca says "When the fight is right (sure it is against invaders) no matter who you are, man or woman, you must be together" (El Pueblo Unido) to have the right to fight in 1975 I guess. Dervisan is the band, an earlier incarnation with flute, a more powerfull guitar instead of keyboards. Egur Dikmen temporarily has quit the band for a while."
* "Tamarci Ciragi" (=Repairman apprentice)
"Apprenticeship is very common in Turkey, (sorry, I have to classify) in low grades, young boys are sent to auto repair shops, barber shops, etc... to learn the details of the job until their age of 20 mostly when they have to start for their military service. This song tells the story of the love of an apprentice (poor) to a rich woman who comes to the repairshop with her luxury car. Apprentice falls in love, remembers a novel about a story like theirs (rich-poor love affair), next time after the car is fixed, he prepares himself like dating her, combs his hair, shaves, etc, but the rich woman asks "who is this junk ? GET AWAY!" and drives away, naturally. At the end the song says to the apprentice, "you are a labor, stay as a labor, take on your workwear" but the humour is there, it is the critic of the classes inside the society."
Dervisan is the 3 pcs band, Ugur Dikmen played the keys, Oguz Durukan plays bass a la cello by the stick (?) and the drummer Hüseyin if I am not wrong. Also Cem played 12 strings." dikenl.
* Nerendesin (= Where are you ?) (Cem Karaca)
B side of "Tamirci Ciragi". The title tells the story. A call for the lover who was taken away by the 3rd parties.
* "Ihtiyar Oldum" (Became old) = as song about "I became old before I was born"
(Songs from the Cem Karaca radioprogram -fom the German spoken die Kanaken LP-) :
* "Beim Kaffee" is about a conversation between Cem and an old Polish lady who talked about the problems Polish people faced in Germany.
* "Orient Express" is about misplaced joke on a Wall "go back with the Orient Express"
* "Ayse, Meral, Semra" or "Wie ein Vogel" is about the so-called freedom in Germany, but at the same time the impossiblity of going back to Turkey to see friends or parents because of the fear of being arrested. Cem's father died the first year he was in Germany and for Cem it was impossible to go to the funeral because of the warrant out for his arrest.-
* "Wilkommen" : A sarcastic song about the German view of how foreigners can integrate properly into German society : leave the Turkish pants, leave the garlic, drink beer and "Sauerkraut" and eat pig meat. You're appreciated when you drink a beer with someone as long as you don't talk about politics ; when you have a job for example like a garbage man, you're appreciated for it more easily.
extra soundfile :
"Sevdan Beni" live Ankara 1977, part 2. The complete track is 13 minutes long. This part comes in when the group is already playing with Cem now and then singing for more than 6 minutes. It's an example of how powerful these performances were. Incredible keyboards, drumming & electronics and powerful vocals. One of the best freaked out live tracks I heard in my life. This track will be on line until June 2004 and will then be removed.
More audiofiles :
"Gel Gel" (or here), "Kendim Ettim Kendim Buldum" (or here),"Tamirci Ciragi", "Namus Belasi" (or here) (or here), "Nem Kaldi", "Ihtiyar Oldum", "Nem Kaldi", "Adilos Bebe", "Neredesin", (with Apaslar :) "Suya Giden Alli Gelin", "Resymdeky Gözaglari", "hayvan terli (cem karaca versiyonu)"
