posted 3/21/2008 5:12:30 PM

Bunalim – Turkish Psych

by Steve Krakow

I guess it took me a little while to realize Turkey had some of the finer psychedelicists on hand in the day, it really should have been obvious, as their indigenous sounds were already tripped out enough with acoustic instrumentation, but when electric flavors were added a heady stew was all but guaranteed. A few key compilations hipped me to the plethora of frequencies that came out of Turkey in the late 60’s-mid-70’s--Yes, there was a whole blasted scene, especially once English and American vibrations entered the fray, Anatolian or Andalou rock was born. Headed largely by singer/svengali Cem Karaca, the movement flooded Turkey with wild original headspinning music. Among greats like Erkin Koray, Mogollar and 3 Hurel was, in one form or another, Bunalim.

The band’s history mainly lies in leader Ayet Aydin, who grew up with the film music of his father’s productions, and was entranced enough to try and sing along to Elvis Presley songs at age 13. Ardin started the unrecorded Sorular (Questions) which became Bunalim after being signed, and eventually became Bunlaimar and then Grup Bunalim. The group’s name meant ‘frustration” to epitome the sort of youth feelings at the time about war, lack of freedom, etc. Yes, it’s a convoluted story with multiple member changes (only bassist Aydin Vakus is on all Bunalim material, and drummer Huseyin Sultanoglu on most, Nur Yenal on some, not to mention Rifat Oncel and Fikri Tatbak.) but the sheer strength of the all-things-Bunalim sound always seemed to rock through. Inspired by the powerful sounds overseas of burgeoning hard rock like Uriah Heep, Captain Beyond and of course, Jimi Hendrix, Aydin and crew got signed while touring by Cem Karaka and finally got it together enough for a single in 1969, “Tas Ver Kopek Yok”, a thick blown stab at eastern style garage. In fact the group only ended up producing 6 singles in all, some recorded backing folks like Aziz Azmet (Mogollar’s singer) but the group could gently dive in between atmospheric forays in their native folk music to flesh-searing punk-psych onslaught. Cutting through the ominous Bunalim murk were rattly frums, urgent acid rock licks and peeling highly electric solos. The form could verge between pulsating freakbeat and unexpected proggy changes, to chugging uberrock, aided by mysterious organ They were also known as true underground wild men, shouting “LSD LSD” at their shows (turns out it was plentiful, as well as hashish), appearing naked and longhaired in the streets, and covering the back of the stage with giant freaked out paintings, like a simulacrum of the first King Crimson record. Sometimes the band would play the American Robert college for 10,000 screaming fans. Members still seemed to drop out like flies- (like Sultanoglu joining Mogollar, Cakus in Akbayram, and as the bassist on Koray’s famed “electronic turkuler”) mainly for paying gigs, though most in the Grup Bunalim incarnation hung on til the end, Finally the group morphed from variations on the Bunalim theme to tough rockers Ter, with the legendary Erkin Koray joining up.

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