Baba Zula

With its unique sound created by melding traditional Turkish musical instruments with electronic elements, Baba Zula brings a brand new dimension to Turkish folk music. Baba Zula's music is basically an amalgamation of recorded natural sounds with both traditional and modern acoustic and electronic musical instruments, a culmination of disparate electronic effects. Starting out with improvisations, later fixed into musical elements which make up their music such as theme, tune, style and sound reached through recordings and rehearsals, the group has carried this method of "defined improvisation" into concerts, movies, theatrical plays, use of video, slides and films, prepared by the additional members who have joined forces with the core group in its live performances.

The group, which from the very beginning has shown great interest in featuring guest musicians and players in concerts and albums, has been accompanied by stars such as Thracian Selim Sesler (clarinet master), Canadian singer Brenna McCrimmon (Balkan folk music), Okan Öpoyraz (drummer), Fahrettin Aykut (drummer), Tuncel Kurtiz (movie star and player), H'enlendirici (clarinet master from La Tayfa), Ralph Carney from San Francisco (saxophonist) and the diva Semiha Berksoy (first Turkish opera singer and painter).

Baba Zula's debut album, Tabutta Rovasata (Somersault in the Coffin), including the original soundtrack for Dervis Zaim's first movie with the same title about a car thief who returned the cars he stole to their owners and fell in love with a peacock, was released in 1996. The album also includes four songs in which the movie stars Ahmet Ugurlu, Tuncel Kurtiz and Aysel Aydemir contribute in vocals. —Courtesy Calabash Music