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Artist
Mustafa Özkent
12+ albums
funkpsychedelicanatolian rockturkishturkey
about
"Turkish composer, arranger, and musician Mustafa Özkent was a lesser-known but significant figure on the Ankara music scene until his music belatedly found a receptive audience in the West more than four decades into his career. Özkent launched his career as a professional musician in 1960 as the leader of a Turkish pop group called the Teenagers (owing to the fact no one in the group was over the age of 19). A talented guitarist who was known to modify the design of his instruments to create unusual tonal qualities, Özkent earned a reputation as a gifted maverick and by the dawn of the 1970s was in demand as a session player, arranger, and producer, creating music that fused psychedelic and pop/rock influences with R&B grooves and jazz-influenced improvisations. In 1972, Özkent partnered with Evren Records, a Turkish label known for its high production standards and audiophile recording techniques; Özkent booked time at one of Istanbul's finest recording facilities, and with a hand-picked team of musicians he began recording new material dominated by funky vamps, extended percussion jams, hard-grooving organ lines, and wah-wah guitars. The resultant LP, Genclikle Elele (Hand in Hand with Youth), sounded as if it were designed for hip-hop DJs in search of funky breaks, even though it was cut years before the nascent South Bronx scene began to flower (not to mention half a world away). In 2006, the musically omnivorous record collectors at the British Finders Keepers label r
