Kar Yağar cover
Released

It’s hard not to be immediately moved by the first few seconds of this album. Derya Yıldırım’s voice is ethereal over a low drone, a cinematic opening to the beautiful “Üç Kız Bir Ana”, which leisurely unfolds as the band members join in, drums, guitar, organ, and synth simmering beneath Yıldırım’s voice, before the bağlama raises above the rest to join the electric organ in a trippy interplay. The record includes covers like “Dom Dom Kurşunu” by Aşik Mahzuni Şerif (every one of the band’s releases includes a tribute to this legendary composer and musician), or the traditional Alevi “Ey Şahin Bakişlim.” But the album is far from being a nostalgic imitation, and is actually an intensely personal one that includes original compositions by some of the individual musicians, and even appearances by family members (like the haunting ”Çocuklar 2,” in which  Yıldırım’s father reads a poem by Nâzım Hikmet Ran over a dancing flute line). 

Megan Iacobini de Fazio

Suggestions
Lo Sport cover

Lo Sport

Daniela Casa, Gianpiero Ricci, Remigio Ducros
Arbina cover

Arbina

Noura Mint Seymali
Kardaşlar cover

Kardaşlar

Seyhan Karabay
Bunzu Soundz cover

Bunzu Soundz

Bunzu Soundz
Khedmat Be Khalq cover

Khedmat Be Khalq

Naujawanan Baidar
Jrouli cover

Jrouli

Cheba Wahida
Dreamin’ Wild cover

Dreamin’ Wild

Donnie & Joe Emerson