Mustafa Ozkent: Genclik Ile Elele [JACKPOT]

Why you'll love it

Jackpot Records brings back the 1973 Evren Records album in its original artwork and ten-song programme. Once a near-mythical rarity, it found a whole new audience in the West after its 2006 reissue and has been a favourite of funk and psych collectors ever since.

This edition

• Original 1973 artwork
• Original Evren Records programme

About the album

Guitarist and arranger Mustafa Özkent took ten Turkish folk songs, gathered a band with two drummers, two guitarists, two percussionists, a bassist and a Hammond organ, and cut the lot live in a single day. The result, issued on Evren Records in 1973, sounds like a Turkish film soundtrack that wandered into a funk club and decided to stay. For decades it was a whispered-about rarity, and copies of the original are still scarce. Tiny Mix Tapes called it a real artifact of its time, riding a universal groove that crosses borders just to get you moving.

Özkent and Cahit Oben trade guitar lines over Merih Dumlu's bass and Ümit Aksu's organ, and the folk melodies are woven so neatly into the grooves that you may not notice them unless you're listening for them. "Üsküdar'a Giderken" opens with a familiar tune turned to wah-wah funk, "Dolana Dolana" stretches out into a psychedelic jam, and "Burçak Tarlaları" and "Zeytinyağlı" lock into deep, rolling breaks.

PopMatters called it half an hour of wordless Turkish psychedelia chilled to a nice consistency. We'd add that it also goes rather well with a coffee strong enough to stand a spoon in.

Also at Kops: more Mustafa Ozkent on vinyl · browse World

Tracklist

Listen

On Jackpot Records, a reissue of the 1973 album.