USA Turkish Times - Turkish instruments give new life to '80s, '90s hit songs

Turkish instruments give new life to '80s, '90s hit songs

Dolapdere Big Gang has been at the top of the music charts for six consecutive weeks. They shook up the Turkish music world with a unique idea: the songs of famous singers, from Michael Jackson to Madonna and Sting -- the top hits of the '80s and '90s are re-recorded with a score of authentic, masterfully played Turkish instruments. with vocals in English. How would you like to listen to your favorite song with the Turkish instruments ud, kanun, klarnet and darbuka? Gökay tells the story of how the Dolapdere Big Gang was created. Named after one of the most notorious backstreets in Istanbul, Dolapdere, mainly populated by gypsies (Romans), is known for two things: street crime and the residents' music talents. "People are prejudiced toward the gypsies of Dolapdere and we scored a big goal in the music industry with this album. No one, including ourselves, was expecting this project would receive such great appreciation. Music fans were thirsty for something new. People were fed up with cliché and mass production songs," Gökay said.
Most of the band members also live in Dolapdere. "As the name implies, our music is breaking up the bad luck of the poor backstreets," said Yusuf, another member. It does, indeed. The success of the group now goes beyond Turkey's boundaries. Their CDs and tapes are already on major European music markets. Emir is the lead vocalist of the band, and his voice has both character and color. His performance of "Englishmen in New York" by Sting isn't to be missed. You can hardly differentiate that the singer is a Turk from Dolapdere, or take Ozlem, a Turkish girl with a strong, dark voice. Her performance of "Shut up" will take your breath away with its belly dancer's agile rhythm.
Nihat Demiray and Hülya Kama came to watch the group's performance. Nihat said it had been years since he last bought any albums, but that changed with Dolapdere Big Gang. "Popular English songs with Turkish instruments is enough for me to buy the album." Hülya praises them, too: "I have been trying hard to learn English, yet these people sing just like the original singers."
The group dreams to appear on stage together with one of the pop singers whose material they cover.

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