Erkin Koray

Erkin Koray — Biography

Mustafa Erkin Koray (24 June 1941, Kadıköy, Istanbul – 7 August 2023, Toronto) was a Turkish singer, songwriter, composer and guitarist. He is regarded as the pioneer of rock music in Turkey and one of the founding figures of Anatolian rock; he left behind a large body of original work in the Anatolian rock, psychedelic rock and hard rock genres. He was educated in Istanbul, at the German High School and at Haydarpaşa High School.

Koray began playing the piano at an early age, discovered rock and roll while still in high school, and formed a small group with friends called Erkin Koray ve Ritimcileri. He began performing on stage from the 1950s onwards and released numerous 45s during the 1960s; in those years he travelled to Germany and saw at first hand the scene the Beatles and other British bands had created in Hamburg. By the time he returned to Turkey he had become not merely a musician but an icon, with his long hair and rock and roll way of life. In 1969 he founded his band Yeraltı Dörtlüsü, laying the ground for the future of Turkish rock music.

Koray's music was built on the fusion of psychedelic rock with traditional Turkish music. Through original work that brought Eastern and Western music together he influenced a great many musicians who came after him, and by rearranging numerous folk songs he contributed to preserving the cultural heritage of Anatolia. Towards the end of the 1960s, in order to make the bağlama heard better on stage and to be able to use the instrument within rock music, he developed the electric bağlama together with Orhan Gencebay.

His repertoire spanned a wide field: he performed pieces from Turkish folk music such as Cemalim and Köprüden Geçti Gelin, and from Turkish art music such as Nihansın Dideden and Kıskanırım. Alongside arabesque-rock tracks such as Şaşkın, Estarabim, Çöpçüler and Fesuphanallah, he produced work reaching into psychedelic rock such as Mesafeler, Yağmur and Gün Doğmuyor, as well as pieces that can be described as metal such as Krallar, Akrebin Gözleri and Öfke.

His run of albums began with Erkin Koray in 1973, followed in 1974 by Elektronik Türküler and Mesafeler. In the years that followed he released albums such as Erkin Koray Tutkusu, Allah Aşkına, İlla ki, Ceylan, Hay Yam Yam, Tamam Artık and Devlerin Nefesi; the Dünden Esintiler series, issued from 1991 onwards, recompiled his earlier recordings.

Besides music he also had ties to cinema: he appeared in films such as Naylon Leyla, Dönüşü Olmayan Yol and Şaşkın, was credited on the music of productions such as Korkusuz Cengaver, Yüz Numaralı Adam and Abuk Sabuk 1 Film, and took part in the television series Karambol Kamil and Avrupa Yakası. He appeared as himself in Fatih Akın's 2005 documentary İstanbul Hatırası: Köprüyü Geçmek. Sometimes referred to as the Turkish Jimi Hendrix, Koray died in Toronto on 7 August 2023 at the age of 82.