Kar Yağar

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 rises 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 Bakışlım.” 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).