Looking at the cover of this album, I imagined Selda's music to be run of the mill acoustic folk; little did I expect the huge and almost psychedelic extravagance of the songs on her self-titled debut from 1976. Some of it is surprisingly modern sounding and some of it sounds kitsch in its own old-fashioned way. Even at its most peculiar it is a remarkable sounding disc.
B-Music
The music is Turkish folk from the ground up but decorated with electric guitars and synthesisers. Some of the songs sound great with the vibrant, electric sound. "Ince Ince" and "Yaz Gazeteci Yaz" from early on in the album both accommodate the contemporary psychedelic sound very well. One song that I am glad they did not record with all the electric instruments is "Gine Haber Gelmis," a mournful and sparse piece where Selda cries out her words into the void, it is beautiful stuff. There are other songs I feel would have sounded better with this stripped down approach, some of the guitar is drenched in phaser and flanger effects which makes them sound extremely dated now.
Speaking of words, as an advocate for free speech, Selda’s lyrics got her into trouble with the authorities in Turkey. As I do not speak Turkish I can only assume that the lyrics in her native tongue are better than the strangely translated English versions in the sleeve notes: "Accept this song as my pray" being one example of a line that should have been proof-read before going to press. Plus only five out of the 17 songs are listed in the lyrics section. It would have been nice if more effort had been put into this aspect of the release. There are three pages of sleeve notes telling me why she is important but then they omit most of the proof!
B-Music have committed themselves to releasing what they see as criminally unappreciated rare records. So far their releases have been hit or miss although all have been interesting. The problem with their releases is that they seem to equate rare with genius and it is obvious that this is a silly way to judge records. In this case, they have luckily hit the mark. Selda’s music may be primitive in terms of recording quality but the music is still captivating. You can hear elements of punk, post-punk and modern independent music from Eastern Europe in her music. This is how I imagine what the Eurovision song contest should sound like: songs that exemplify both what is progressive and defining of a culture.
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