The Turkish and Dutch cultures have known each other for centuries, so it was about time to start making music together in a band. This international adventure started when bassist Jasper Verhulst became enthralled with the Turkish sound of the seventies, following a performance in Istanbul. This was the age when artists like Selda, Barış Manço, and Erkin Koray combined traditional sounds with Western rock music. Together with some band members Verhulst started looking for Turkish musicians to revive this sound. Using Facebook, they contacted singer Merve Dasdemir and Erdinc Ecevit Yildiz, who also sings and plays keyboard and the saz, a traditional string instrument. Like their Turkish seventies’ role models, Altin Gün mixes Turkish traditionals with psychedelics, funk and rock. The result is a virtuoso, and sometimes complex, but most of all irresistibly swinging show.
