Рет қаралды 375,416
Muhtar Cem Karaca was born in Istanbul on April 5, 1945. He completed his secondary education at Robert High School and was the child of an artist couple. His first encounter with music was when his mother’s aunt, Rosa Felegyan, taught him piano notes and tunes. He then began to make music under the influence of the Western-style school, which he had studied at the time, and the Rock’n’Roll movement, which had become increasingly popular by then.
Karaca went to do his military service in 1965, which is something that completely changed both his life and music. Up until that point, he hadn’t liked Anatolian style music but ended up falling in love with it due to his military friend playing the bağlama. Until the end of his life, this style then accompanied his music. Karaca reflected on this experience during the military service as follows: “At that point, I got to know the folk songs and realized that I shouldn’t have to sing in the wrong language, in the wrong place. I have to sing in the right geographical location, in the right language.”
After his military service, in February 1967, Cem Karaca met the band “Apaşlar”, which had been founded by guitarist Mehmet Soyarslan. Together with that band, Karaca participated in the 1967 “Golden Microphone” competition. The song “Emrah”, with which they entered the competition, was a composition by Karaca, based on the poetry of Emrah from Erzurum. Even though Karaca and “Apaşlar” took second place in the competition, they ended up attracting more attention than the winner. In 1968, Cem Karaca and “Apaşlar” went to Germany and recorded 45ers with the “Ferdy Klein Orchestra”. During that period, Soyarslan’s song "Resimdeki Gözyaşları" also ended up becoming Karaca’s second hit, following “Emrah”. In 1969, differences of opinion began to occur within the group. While Karaca wanted to move towards making more political music, Soyarslan was against this change. After the record "Bu Son Olsun / Felek Beni", the group scattered. Nevertheless, wanting to continue making music with a band, Karaca then established the band “Kardaşlar” with former “Apaşlar” bass guitarist Seyhan Karabay. After the band members were decided, Karaca and “Kardaşlar” had planned to go to Germany together in order to record there, but due to an epidemic, this wasn’t possible. Because of this, Karaca ended up going to Cologne by himself. There, he recorded his own compositions and Anatolian folk songs, once again, with the “Ferdy Klein Orchestra”. This collaboration between Karaca and the “Ferdy Klein Orchestra” led to the recording of 4 records.
Then, in September 1972, Karaca left “Kardaşlar”, as a rare event in world music history occurred. While leaving “Kardaşlar” in order to join the band “Moğollar”, the soloist of “Moğollar”, Ersen Dinleten, changed over to “Kardaşlar” at the same time. Upon later leaving “Moğollar”, Cem Karaca founded the band “Dervişan” in 1974. In February 1975, one of Karaca’s most important works, "Tamirci Çırağı", was published. The statement "İşçisin sen, işçi kal" (“You are a worker, stay a worker”) used in the song clearly portrayed his political stance for the first time. In 1977, his LP “Yoksulluk Kader Olamaz” was released. The track “Sevdan Beni” on that LP is in fact a poem by Ahmet Arifin. The album has been bearing the most characteristic effects on the protest music in Turkey. It is also one of the best examples of the progressive music genre of those times. Especially after this album, clashes started breaking out at the band’s concerts, due to their political views. In 1978, as the band became more and more politicized, they dissolved.
In 1979, Karaca moved to Germany. He then published the album “Hasret”, which mostly consists of compositions of Nazım Hikmet's poems. In March 1980, Karaca began to be tried at the Martial Law Court for “communist propaganda” in relation to his record “1 Mayıs” (“1 May”). During that time, he began his European tour. He lost his father, Mehmet Karaca, shortly after the trial had started. Karaca was unable to attend his father’s funeral. He had not returned to Turkey for his court hearing, as he didn’t trust there to be a fair trial. As a result, he was stripped of his Turkish citizenship on January 6, 1983, the same day as Yılmaz Güney, a prominent Turkish director, novelist and actor. Upon meeting with Turgut Özal (Turkey’s Prime Minister at the time) through a friend, Karaca expressed his wish to return to Turkey. After having spent years abroad in exile, he then returned to his beloved homeland in 1987.
Cem Karaca summarized his music life as follows: “Dozens of our poets, such as Pirsultan Abdal, Karacaoğlan and Dadaloğlu Emrah, have continued their existence when their folk songs are sung. If one day my folk song is not sung, if my song is not sung, then… Eyvallah!"
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Animasyon: Emre Karacan
Tipografi : Sarp Sözdinler
Kurgu Destek : İsmail Arslan
Translation: Sami Umut Can
Digital Remastering: Sinan Güngörer