Baba Zula

Anchored in Istanbul in the mid-1990s, Baba Zula developed a form of Anatolian psychedelia that blends traditional Turkish music, dub, experimental rock and electronic touches. Founded around Murat Ertel and Levent Akman after the Zen project, Baba Zula operates as an open core, frequently joined by various instrumentalists and vocalists, which fuels an aesthetic that shifts between improvisation and structured compositions. The group's first international visibility came with the soundtrack to the film "Tabutta Rövaşata" in 1996, followed by several studio albums including "Duble Oryantal" (2005), "Gecekondu" (2010), "34 Oto Sanayi" (2014) and "Derin Derin" (2019), where hypnotic rhythms, motifs from Anatolian rural music and references to the 1970s psych scene intersect. On stage, Baba Zula favors long instrumental forms and a performative dimension that places them both within independent rock circuits and at festivals of world music and electronic culture. Collaborations with Alexander Hacke and producer Mad Professor, as well as the band's appearance in Fatih Akin’s documentary "Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul", have reinforced the group's position at the crossroads of Turkish, European and diasporic cultures.