A country, new and old May 13, 2007
Consider a subtler scene: As tourists and local hipsters sipped Efes beer and swayed to a funky fusion from the band Baba Zula inside the nightclub Babylon on a spring evening, a band member onstage sketched computer drawings that were simultaneously broadcast on a screen. First came an Islamic woman clad in a body-covering abbaya. (Boston Globe)
Contemporary Art: Istanbul set to stamp its culture credentials Nov 8, 2006
Then last summer his documentary "Crossing the Bridge," an odyssey through Istanbul's diverse musical subcultures, opened a window on the world from which the band Baba Zula, the Arabesque legend Orhan Gencebey and artists like Mercan Dede and the percussionist Burhan Ocal, sprang to fame. In visual arts, the city's biennial also has a growing international reputation, while Istanbul's first major contemporary arts museum, the Istanbul Modern - financed by the industrial wealth of the Eczacibasi... (International Herald Tribune -- Travel)
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul Jul 11, 2006
Cast Replikas, Duman, Orient Expressions, Baba Zula, Alexander Hacke. Directed by Fatih Akin. (San Jose Mercury News -- Entertainment)
From Burlington teen to Turkish folk singer Jun 9, 2006
In MacCrimmon's second appearance, she sings on the boat with Baba Zula Turkey's answer to the Grateful Dead, a hard-living rock collective that mixes Eastern and Western sounds. She sang on their popular 2003 CD Psychebelly Dance Music. (Toronto Star -- GTA)
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul **1/2 Jun 3, 2006
Bookmarked by Hacke jamming with jazzy psychedelic rockers Baba Zula on a boat, the doc lines up encounters with musicians: legendary Turkish rock pioneer Erkin Koray; former movie idol Orhan Gencebay who plays the long-necked saz; world-music darling Mercan Dede who fuses Sufi music with electronica; the staccato-rapping Ceza (the Turkish Eminem); Romani clarinet virtuoso Selim Sesler; mesmerizing Kurdish singer Aynur; and the melancholy singer Sezen Aksu, known as the voice of Istanbul. Hacke,... (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Crank up the tunes Jun 2, 2006
Featuring Alexander Hacke, Baba Zula, Ceza, Sezen Aksu, Orhan Gencebay, Aynur ... Many of the people Hacke interviews and records who include the psychedelic rockers Baba Zula, the hyperkinetic rapper Ceza, the "Turkish Elvis" Orhan Gencebay and the stirring Kurd folk singer Aynur struggle to elucidate both the richness of their city's musical traditions and the cultural tributaries that feed them. (Toronto Star -- Arts)
