Anatolian psych-pop: mix of Turkish folk and psychedelia
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek are firmly on their way to becoming Turkey ‘s newest pop sensation!
This band makes delicious, contemporary Turkish psych-pop: a hypnotic mix of Anatolian folk, Turkish rock from the 1970s, psychedelia, pop, funk and jazz.
Central figure of this band with musicians from Turkey, Germany, France and England is young singer and multi-instrumentalist Derya Yıldırım. She was born in a multicultural neighbourhood of Hamburg, where she was also influenced by the culture and music of neighbouring communities. She learnt the bağlama alongside piano, saxophone and guitar. Although she is multilingual, Yıldırım sings exclusively in Turkish: the language in which she can best express herself emotionally.
The group Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek formed in 2014. They arranged some Turkish oldies from the 60s and 70s – by Selda Bağcan, Barış Manço, Moğollar, among others. But they also play beautiful compositions of their own in the same genre and with a keen sense of improvisation. Thus, they lead rich Turkish poetry into the future without forgetting the past.
Expect heady, highly danceable and hypnotic grooves!
