Cem Karaca
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Cem Karaca (March 19, 1945 - February 8, 2004) was a prominent Turkish rock musician and one of the important figures in the Anatolian rock movement.
He was the only child of Irma Felekyan and Mehmet Ibrahim Karaca. His first group was called Dynamites, and was a classic rock cover band. Later he joined Jaguars, an Elvis Presley cover band. In 1967 he started to write his own music, forming the band Apaslar, his first Turkish-language group. In 1969 Karaca and the bass player Serhan Karabay left Apaslar and started an original Anatolian sound group called Kardaslar (Brothers).
In 1972 Karaca joined the group Moğollar and wrote his masterpiece "Namus Belasi". However, Cahit Berkay, the leader of Moğollar, wanted an international name for his band, and he left for France to take the group to an another level. Karaca, who wanted to continue his Anatolian beat sound, left Moğollar and started his own band Dervisan (Dervishkhan). Karaca and Dervisan sang poetic and progressive songs.
In the 70's Turkey's image was getting destroyed by civil war. Everyone was blaming everyone for something — the left was fighting the right, there were separatist movements and the rise of Islamism. As the country fell into chaos, Cem Karaca started to get the attention of the government. At times he was accused of treason for being a separatist thinker, Marxist, and Leninist, and the Turkish government tried to portray Karaca as a man who is unknowingly writing songs to start a revolution. One politician said "Karaca is simply calling citizens to a bloody war against the state."
In early 1979 he left for West Germany for business reasons. Turkey continued to spin out of control, and even a twenty-four hour military curfew did not help the situation. On September 12, 1980 the Turkish Armed Forces put it all to a dramatic end. General Kenan Evren took over the government and closed all the political parties down temporarily. After the coup, many people, including writers, artists, and journalists, were arrested. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Karaca by the government of Turkey. The state called Karaca back to the country several times, but Karaca, not knowing the outcome of his return, decided not to come back to Turkey at least until the dust settled down. While he was in Germany, his father passed away, but he could not return to attend the funeral. After some time, the Turkish government decided to strip Cem Karaca of his Turkish citizenship, keeping the arrest warrant active.
Several years later, in 1987, the prime minister and leader of the Turkish Motherland Party, Turgut Ozal, issued an amnesty for Karaca. Shortly afterwards, he returned to his country he loved. His return also brought a new album by him, Merhaba Gencler and Her zaman Genc Kalanlar, one of his most powerful works. His return home was greeted happily by his fans, but in the intervening decade, Karaca had lost the young people and acquired few new listeners. His Ian Anderson-like looks and powerful voice combined with the words and sounds of the Anatolian rock that he created will remain dear to fans.
Discography
- Apaslar-Kardaslar (1972)
- ...Teşekkürleriyle (1974)
- Nem Kaldi (1975)
- Parka (LP) (1977)
- Yoksulluk Kader Olamaz (1977)
- Safinaz (1978)
- Hasret (1980)
- Bekle Beni (1982)
- Die Kanaken (1984)
- Merhaba Gençler (1987)
- Töre (1988)
- Yiyin Efendiler (1990)
- Nerde Kalmistik (1992)
- Bindik Bir Alamete (1999)
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