Turkish Groove

[coll]: Turkish Groove (Putamayo)
Reviewed by Sadie O., 3/21/06
Showcases some of the variety of Turkish pop music. Not much to represent the metal, hip hop, or various traditional-based musical forms in Turkey – very much middle of the road pop. Turkish pop tends to incorporate various Latin styles as well as Arabesque, and very pretty vocals, and much of it has a decent beat.
I liked 1, 4 9 and 11 fairly well. Hated 8.
1. **Cool swingy hand-drum rhythm, strings, female vocalist. Definite Arabesque feel.
2. Uptempo but mellow, almost a bit of Latin feel. Male vocals – major Turkish heartthrob.
3. *Downtempo, distinctive female vocals, rather melancholy feel although the lyrics are about finding one’s inner power… a bit of hip hop a la Sultana. Nice a capella ending.
4. **Gypsy brass, catchy Arabic rhythm, female singer.
5. *Turkey’s biggest star does a remix of one of his hits – very passionate vocals, cool midtempo percussion.
6. Starts with conversation in Spanish and Turkish. Slightly uptempo, cool dance beat, female vocals.
7. Passionate midtempo acoustic love song with a tiny bit of electronica.
8. Melodramatic, semi-whispered female vocals. Apparently retro Turkish movie influence, a bit ooky for my tastes…
9. **Midtempo dance syncopation, female vocals, haunting traditional flute riff. Very belly-dancey.
10. *Midtempo, female vocals, some spoken semi-hiphop style. Odd mixture of modernism and traditional instrumentation.
11. **Midtempo cool beat, contemporary sound from one of the top female stars in Turkey for the last 20 years.