Poplar Trees: Sabahat Akkiraz feat. Erkan Oğur and "Kavaklar"

Sabahat Akkiraz brings us today's random tune, called Kavaklar. A Turkish folk music singer, was raised in Germany before returning to Turkey where she released her first professional album in 1983. She is not only well known for her contributions to Turkish folk music, but also as a politician and a member of the Turkish parliament where she represented Istanbul from 2011 - 2015. She resigned her position following the Soma mining disaster in Turkey and in protest of the ruling Justice and Development Party's response to a call to investigate the mine's safety record. She said at the time that being in parliament did not give her the ability to change the direction of the country. She is joined on Kavaklar by Erkan Oğur, a Turkish guitarist known for his invention of the fretless classical guitar, and his combination of Turkish classical and Turkish folk music with ancient traditional music. You can find Kavaklar on the 2006 various artists collection Homegrown Istanbul, Vol. 1.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabahat_Akkiraz; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erkan_O%C4%9Fur

Turkish Classical and Folk Stylings: Erkan Oğur and İsmail H. Demircioğlu with "Ey Zahit Saraba Eyle Ihtiram"

Today's tune is by Erkan Oğur and İsmail Hakkı Demircioğlu. From Turkey, Erkan Oğur is a pioneer of fretless guitars, and invented the first fretless classical guitar. As a composer, he combines the ancient traditional sounds of Turkey with Turkish folk and classical music. He is also considered a master of the kopuz and bağlama lutes. İsmail Hakkı Demircioğlu is a Turkish bass player who has made many albums and has worked a lot with Erkan Oğur. You can find this song, Ey Zahit Saraba Eyle Ihtiram, on their 1998 album Gülün Kokusu Vardi.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Beautiful Day: Erkan Oğur and İsmail Hakkı Demircioğlu with "Bugün Ben Bir Güzel Gördüm"

Erkan Oğur, along with İsmail Hakkı Demircioğlu, brings the random tune for today, called Bugün Ben Bir Güzel Gördüm. From Turkey, Erkan Oğur is a pioneer of fretless guitars, and invented the first fretless classical guitar. As a composer, he combines the ancient traditional sounds of Turkey with Turkish folk and classical music. He is also considered a master of the kopuz and bağlama lutes. İsmail Hakkı Demircioğlu is a Turkish bass player who has made many albums and has worked a lot with Erkan Oğur. You can find Bugün Ben Bir Güzel Gördüm on their 1998 album Gülün Kokusu Vardi.

Globalquerque 2014 Video 5: Erkan Oğur's Telvin Trio (Turkey)

This video is of Erkan Oğur's Telvin Trio, a Turkish jazz ensemble, at Globalquerque 2014 on September 20th on the Roy E. Disney stage at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. This is a long video, but worth it. The trio does jazz with a Middle Eastern flavor. Oğur had already contributed something major to music - he invented the fretless classical guitar. A composer, he is also considered a master of the kopuz and bağlama lutes. This video was shot on my Samsung Galaxy phone - the video quality isn't great because my phone doesn't do zoom well, but the sound is pretty good!