For the first time since I have been at the World Service, two programmes were recorded on location, in this case in Istanbul, Turkey. Producer Dana Stevens suggested we do as many of the links as possible outside, to give a real sense that we were really there. I spent a lot of time standing in the Istanbul’s main street, Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue) with my back to the crowd, talking into a microphone which picked up the sounds of conversations, tram bells and even a man selling bread from a tray on his head.

One of the main purposes of the trip was to demonstrate not simply the wide diversity of Turkish music but to highlight the efforts of two record labels in particular, each pursuing entirely different policies, which is many ways epitomise the nature of record labels in the world today, one (Doublemoon) aiming to sell music outside its home territory and the other (Kalan) primarily targeting a local market.
 
As we continually improvised to deal whatever became possible, we soon learned that it was a mistake ever to do an introduction before we knew exactly what was to follow, and with hindsight I should have made a much clearer reference to one of the mains inspirations for the whole trip, the film Crossing The Bridge, directed by Fatih Akim and featuring the German musician Alexander Hacke (formerly of Einstüzende Neubauten) who spent a couple of months recording a dozen Turkish musicians, some of whom he actually played with, others whom he simply documented in performance. Three of the artists featured in the film also wound up in our programme, one of them accidentally. It was only when we ran across SiyaSiyaBand, a group of street buskers whom I recognised from the film, that I remembered what a big impact it had made when I saw it a couple of years ago. As it happens, the film’s soundtrack album is released on the label that is at the centre of this first programme, Doublemoon.

Founder Ahmet Ulug (the final ‘g’ is not pronounced) explains how the label evolved almost accidentally out of the primary activities of his company Pozitif Music, which was initially set up to stage live events and festivals and eventually to run the club, Babylon, which has become Istanbul’s premier mid-size venue (capacity about 600). Ahmet explains that Pozitif hired local students and musicians to act as couriers to greet visiting musicians at the airport and bring them into town. When one of those messengers, an American saxophonist based in Istanbul called Richard Hamer, mentioned he was setting up a studio group to make records, Doublemoon found itself with a house band and an artist, Orient Expressions. The band convened at Richard’s basement studio to perform two songs specially for us, featuring current lead vocalist Berin Koç. The group epitomises Doublemoon’s aim of merging  melodies played on traditional instruments with programmed rhythms that can fit into any dance context.

Returning to Istiklal to record the links (now that we knew what we had recorded), we ran across a group that I took to be the buskers who were a highlight of Crossing the Bridge. Having asked permission, we recorded a performance by the musicians and learned from the singer that although he was in SiyaSiyaBand, this outfit comprises different musicians whose name is Alatav, meaning not quite cooked, or underdone.  Their ethos is to bypass the music business entirely by recording live in the streets, finding an audience of all ages and dispositions and selling their CD to anybody who likes their sound.

Next week, we feature and two of the artists launched by Kalan Records.

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