Part of the crop of Anatolian rock forefathers, Les Mogol (also known as Moğollar, their Turkish name) were already making psychedelic rock in the late 1960s, but soon began to incorporate traditional Turkish instrumentation and melodies to their compositions. Their album  “Danses et rythmes de la Turquie d’hier à aujourd’hui” contains 13 delicately psychedelic folk instrumentals, which are far less heavy than those of contemporaries like Erkin Koray, preferring gurgling hammond organs over Koray’s loud, fuzzy guitars. While some of their other records do veer towards heavier psychedelic rock,  “Danses et rythmes de la Turquie d’hier à aujourd’hui”  is far more traditional and acoustic. Nonetheless, their blend of modern rhythms and Turkish tradition was a hit, and the band actually achieved the top spot in the Turkish Hit Parade. More importantly, Moğollar remained at the center of the Turkish rock scene for decades (they even reunited in the 1990s), and played with stars like Selda Bağcan, Barış Manço, Cem Karaca, and  Erkin Koray, and had an incalculable impact on the development of Anatolian rock.

– Megan Iacobini de Fazio