Search - Hava Narghile :: Hava Narghile: Turkish Rock Music 1966-1975

Raga rock Turkish delight

Michael W. Draine | Acton, MA United States | 08/25/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Absolutely fantastic comp of 1967-75 Turkish psychedlic bellydance music. There's a few surf-style instros (sort of like Dick Dale's "Miserlou" in reverse), but the main emphasis is on hypnotic, droning psych versions of Middle Eastern traditional tunes, some with flower-power lyrics. Jam-packed with Turkish delight at 71 minutes. Caveat: mastered from rare vinyl 45s, some of which have obvious surface noise."

MUST purchase for Amon Duul fans...

05/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...and maybe Nuggets 2 anthology fans too. I was surprised by how familiar and NONotherworldly a lot of these tracks sound. Amon Duul's "Paradieswarts Duul" is my favorite album, and there are a couple songs here that sound like they belong on it: Baris Manco & Kaygisizlar's "Flower of Love" (the good liner notes say Manco was studying in Belgium at the time and "realized his own country could be the cultural link between East and West") and Mogollar's "Berkay Oyun Havasi". One other tune has a Yardbirds thing going on, another has tinges of 60s Bay Area music, and one even sounds somewhat like the Edgar Broughton Band. The best band on here, by far, is Mogollar, whose "Hard Work" is one of the best psych-rock tunes I've heard. The liner notes say they got slagged in the Turkish press at the time for singing in English. Go, Mogollar, go! Somebody please get their first album from 1971 rereleased around here. What makes me even gladder about hearing this is that I had absolutely no foreknowledge, no expectations, and was thus able to hear the CD with as open an ear as I can have nowadays. I'm definitely going to check out some more compilations in this vein. Before anyone accuses me of excessive hype, I will say some tracks have vocals that might be considered "cheesy" by most Western listeners, including myself, but by my count 10 tunes are rock solid, and a few are masterpieces."

A great set of rare old music

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 02/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a nice collection of hard-to-find Turkish rock from the heyday of their psychedelic scene. If you like discovering weird adaptations of rock culture in 'foreign' climes, then this is a disc to check out! Also worth tracking down is the "26 Turkish Delights" compilation, which has an even harder acid-rock edge to it."