ALBUMS
BaBa ZuLa - XXX Release Date: September 25th, 2026
GBCD/LP188 EAN: 4030433618820/4030433618813
Album stream: https://s.disco.ac/nyrvdukwljil
Press kit: https://bit.ly/BZ_XXX_PR
"Since 1996 they've won global cultish acclaim for their channeling of Can, early Floyd, Mad Professor and (guitarist and compatriot) Erkin Koray via Turkish traditional folk...groovily rebellious." -- UNCUT
Three decades into their extraordinary journey, the legendary Istanbul-based collective BaBa ZuLa return with XXX – a hypnotic, uncompromising and undeniably vital statement of artistic freedom. Weaving together shapeshifting rhythms, hypnotic saz-driven atmospherics, and deep sonic rituals, the new album celebrates a band that has spent the past thirty years continuously redefining the possibilities of Turkish psychedelic music.
There are few groups in contemporary music whose work becomes more unpredictable with time. Fewer still who, after thirty years of existence, sound more adventurous, stranger and more radical than ever before. BaBa ZuLa belong to that rare category.
“Each of our albums is different. We don't like to repeat ourselves. Many bands record subsequent albums very similar to the first. For us, each album tells a new story. Perhaps that's why we've been around for thirty years” – says Levent Akman.
Often mentioned alongside other internationally acclaimed voices of the Turkish psychedelic resurgence, such as Gaye Su Akyol, Altın Gün and Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek, BaBa ZuLa have always ventured furthest into experimentation, improvisation and unconventional song forms. Their music long ago transcended the boundaries of psychedelic rock, evolving into a singular sonic universe where Anatolian traditions collide with dub, electronics, performance art, avant-garde aesthetics and ritualistic trance. It is no coincidence that over the years they have collaborated with visionary artists such as Mad Professor, Jaki Liebezeit of Can, members of Faust and Einstürzende Neubauten and Warren Ellis of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Each encounter left its trace, yet none altered the essence of the band. BaBa ZuLa have remained committed to their own path — restless, exploratory and defiantly resistant to fashions and definitions.
“We still feel fresh. Honesty is very important to us. We have never been interested in following trends or taking the easier path to greater popularity. Music should be something personal - an attempt to express your own feelings and your own view of the world, not repeating other people's stories. We live in Istanbul and we create music that grows from this place. We don't live in Berlin or London, so we don't try to create the music of these cities. Our work is related to the culture, geography and everyday life of Istanbul. This is what gives it authenticity” – adds Murat Ertel.
XXX is the latest chapter in that story. The album moves through dreamlike narratives, social commentary and contemporary mythologies. Pulsating rhythms, transformed saz textures, analogue electronics and hypnotic grooves create a space where reality and imagination dissolve into one another. True to form, XXX balances instrumental excursions and exploratory taksims with a series of original texts that are unmistakably BaBa ZuLa’s own. By turns playful, visionary and fiercely political, they draw connections between folklore, urban life, ecology, memory and resistance, grounding the album’s sonic adventures in a deeply human narrative.
“This time we focused on Mother Nature. If you look at our discography, each album talks about a different aspect of Türkiye and our part of the world. Now we give voice to nature. We see forests and lands being taken from local communities. We see nature under constant pressure. We want to stand on the side of those who defend it” – Esma Ertel summarizes.
On “The White-Socked Cat on the Balcony” [Balkondaki Beyaz Çoraplı Kedi], an everyday encounter between two cats becomes a surreal miniature about desire, attention and fleeting moments. “The Sacred Olive Tree Halay Dance” [Kutsal Zeytin Halayı] unfolds as a poetic hymn to the olive tree - a symbol of memory, light and continuity across Mediterranean cultures. Meanwhile, “Otel Kaliforniya” reimagines a familiar title as a sharp satire on privatization, tourism-driven development and the commodification of public life.
One of the album’s most powerful moments arrives with “Right Does Not Run Out, Power Does” [Hak Bitmez Güç Biter], an impassioned piece inspired by local struggles against environmental destruction and extractive industries. The song features the voice of Hatice Kocalar, a 75-year-old villager from Türkiye’s Aegean region, whose protest against government policies affecting local communities and the natural environment has become emblematic of wider grassroots resistance movements. Voices of resistance, ecological justice and future generations resonate throughout the song, reminding us that BaBa ZuLa’s music has always been as deeply rooted in social reality as it is in psychedelic imagination.
“We like to call ourselves ‘sound warriors.' We want to give people energy and hope, even when the opponent seems stronger. Despite the serious topics, humor is always present in our music” – says Murat Ertel.
Clocking in at 30 minutes and 30 seconds, XXX distills BaBa ZuLa’s expansive imagination into one of their most focused statements to date. The album also features contributions from guest musicians İklim Tamkan (synthesizer, organ) and Eylül Güntekin (double bass), whose performances subtly expand the group’s sonic palette while remaining fully immersed in the band’s unmistakable musical language.
XXX is the sound of a band still in motion - a band that continues to challenge its own methods, explore new forms of expression. Musicians don’t accept the comfort of repetition. BaBa ZuLa helped shape the contemporary language of Turkish psychedelia.
“We believe that music can still make a difference. That's why we keep creating. Music won't solve all the world's problems, but it can raise awareness, give strength and remind people that they are not alone. And that's a lot” – adds Levent Akman.
Today they remain one of its most visionary, uncompromising and unpredictable voices. Thirty years on, their music remains untamed. And that is precisely why it feels more necessary than ever.
180 gr Vinyl
• Turhan Selçuk Illustrations
• Abdülcanbaz Adventures
• Gatefold Cover
“An extraordinary album.”
— Gilles Peterson / BBC Radio 6 Music
“Overflowing with Turkish psychedelia’s murky, hypnotic allure.”
— Bandcamp Daily (Album of the Day)
“Experienced Turkish musicians who bridge Erkin Koray, Can, and Mad Professor.”
— MOJO
BaBa ZuLa continues to be one of the most experimental representatives of the contemporary Turkish psychedelic rock scene. The album, İstanbul Sokakları, features four taksim (traditional Turkish instrumental improvisation) and four new tracks, showcasing the band’s influence in shaping the “Istanbul Psychedelic” genre.
The band, known worldwide and followed by fans like Einstürzende Neubauten, Can, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, blends traditional instruments such as darbuka, kaşık, and bendir with glitch electronics, deep bass, electric saz, and male-female vocals to create hypnotic rhythms.
This album, named after Turhan Selçuk’s famous Abdülcanbaz adventure, continues to be a vivid sonic and political statement that bridges the past and future. BaBa ZuLa says: “We embrace the past and Turkish traditions, but it’s not enough. We live in the 21st century, and the whole world is in our hands.”
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180 gr Plak
• Turhan Selçuk çizimleri
• Abdülcanbaz maceraları
• Açılır katlanır (gatefold) kapak
“Erkin Koray, Can ve Mad Professor arasında bir bağlantı kuran deneyimli Türk müzisyenler.”
— MOJO
“Türk psikedeliyasının bulanık ve hipnotik cazibesiyle dolup taşıyor.”
— Bandcamp Daily (Albümün Günü)
“Olağanüstü bir albüm.”
— Gilles Peterson / BBC Radio 6 Music
BaBa ZuLa, 2020’de yayınlanan Hayvan Gibi albümünden sonra ilk kez, İstanbul Sokakları adlı yepyeni albümünü dinleyicilerle buluşturuyor. Albüm, Turhan Selçuk’un efsanevi Abdülcanbaz İstanbul Sokakları çizimlerinden ilham alan özel gatefold kapak tasarımı ve 180 gr plak formatıyla Türkiye’de ve dünyada bugün aynı anda satışa çıktı.
Bu efsanevi İstanbul grubu, çağdaş Türk psikedelik rock sahnesinin en deneysel temsilcilerinden biri olmaya devam ediyor. Türün alt dalı olarak “İstanbul Psikedelik” kavramını başlatan grup, bu albümde dört taksim ve dört yeni şarkıyla geleceğe sesleniyor.
Kaşıklar, el zilleri, darbuka, bendir, bozulmuş elektronik sesler, derin bir bas, elektrikli saz ve kadın-erkek ikili vokallerle güçlendirilen bu hipnotik parçalar, dinleyiciyi geçmişle bağlantılı şekilde geleceğin seslerine taşıyor.
BaBa ZuLa, Einstürzende Neubauten, Can ve Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds üyeleri tarafından hayranlıkla takip edilen bir grup olarak dünyada tanınırken, kültleşmiş bir hayran kitlesine de sahip. Grup kurucusu Murat Ertel, “Geçmişi ve Türk geleneğini kucaklıyoruz. Ama bu yetmez; 21. yüzyılda yaşıyoruz ve tüm dünya bizim elimizde,” diyerek albümün vizyonunu özetliyor.
İstanbul Sokakları, grubun politik mesajlar içeren ve son derece güncel bir sound ile bizi geçmişe ve geleceğe bağlayan, dinamik ve büyüleyici bir albümü.
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#babazula #istanbulpsychedelic #turkishpsychedelic
BaBa ZuLa kariyerinin 25.yılını 'HAYVAN GİBİ' albümüyle kutluyor!
Kendilerine has yarattıkları evrensel müzik dilini ve çizgilerini bozmadan inşa ettikleri kariyerlerinde 25. yılını geride bırakan BaBa ZuLa , diskografilerinin 12. albümü ve tamamen canlı olan ilk albüm kaydı olan 'Hayvan Gibi'yi 2 ekim tarihinde Gülbaba Records etiketiyle yayınlıyor ve şirketin yayınlanan ilk albümü. Albümün çift plak versiyonu ise Türkiye’de Ekim ayı sonunda piyasalarda olacak.
'Hayvan Gibi' bir 'konsept' albüm. Her parça adını başka bir hayvandan alıyor ve grup için önemli hikayelere sahip. Bu hikayeler albümün içinde aynı zamanda yapımcı olan Murat Ertel tarafından kendi çizdiği hayvanlar ve el yazısı ile anlatılıyor. En önemli özelliği ise, 'direct to disc’ yani plağa direkt kayıt teknolojisiyle bir tane bile kesme, biçme ve edit bile yapılmadan tek seferde kaydedilmesi. Dijital kayıt yöntemlerine tamamen ters olan bu yol saf analog dünyaya açılan bir kapı. Böylece grubun konser deneyimine en yakın kaydı olmasıyla dikkat çekiyor.
Night Dreamer’ın büyük ilgi gören tek seferlik, diske canlı kayıt projesinin 5.albümü olarak, BaBa ZuLa tüm şarkıları stüdyoda canlı olarak çaldı ve bir konser performansının ateşli enerjisini Haarlem'in Artone Stüdyosu'ndan albüme taşımayı başardı.
1996'da kurulan BaBa ZuLa, sayısız film müziğine imza attı ve Mad Professor, Tuncel Kurtiz, Serra Yılmaz ve Can'dan Jaki Liebezeit gibi çeşitli sanatçılarla işbirliği yaptı. Bugüne kadar 60 farklı ülkede binlerce müzikseverle buluştu.
Albümde kendi tasarladığı elektro sazı çalan Osman Murat Ertel'in başını çektiği ekip, Levent Akman (kaşık, ziller, makineler, elektronikler), Ümit Adakale (darbuka, davul,perküsyon) ve yine kendi enstrümanını tasarlayan Periklis Tsoukalas (elektrikli bariton ud, vokal)'den oluşuyor. 1
1960’ların psikedelik müziği ve Anadolu rock tınılarına dub ve elektronik yaklaşımlar ekleyerek deneysel ve çağdaş bir çizgi getiriyor.
The fifth instalment of Night Dreamer’s acclaimed Direct-to-Disc series welcomes Anadolu psych legends BaBa ZuLa into Haarlem’s Artone Studio to cut an uncompromising live set of fuzzed-out psychedelia, infused with the inimitable dubwise experimentalism that has cemented them as one of the global underground’s most exciting and original bands.
BaBa ZuLa describe their sound as ‘Psychedelic Istanbul Rock ’n Roll’ – a heady mixture that laces the classic Anadolu psych sound with modern electronics, dubwise studio smarts, and fiery left-field sonic radicalism. Founded in 1996 after the break up of experimental band ZeN, BaBa ZuLa began by scoring for film, before developing a style that pushed the classic Turkish psych sound of the 1970s forward into the 21st century.
The band are led by electric saz player Osman Murat Ertel, who grew up in the creative musical milieu of
1960s Istanbul. It was an era of innovation, when a new wave of musicians such as Erkin Koray and Barış Manço, and groups like Moğollar and Bunalım, were fusing the ancient folklore sounds of rural Anatolia with international psychedelic rock and pop to create the renowned musical fusion now known as Anadolu psych.
Among the most important innovations of the era was the electrification of the saz, a seven-string bouzouki-like instrument also known as a baglama that dates back to 1000BC, and which is the most important instrument in Turkish folklore. As the microtonal sound of the saz was cranked up through electrification, the ancient folk music of the saz-playing ashiqs – travelling troubadours, able to speak truth to power from beyond the fringe of mainstream society – was made newly relevant for a modern generation. With the searing fuzz of Ertel’s virtuoso saz playing at the front and centre of the BaBa ZuLa sound, this radically innovative tradition is the backbone of the group’s music.
But the BaBa ZuLa musical vision has always been exploratory. ‘BaBa ZuLa is a special group,’ explains Ertel today. ‘We are following traditional Turkish psychedelic folk, and mixing in stuff from all over the world, but we are not doing it the way people did that in the 1960s. We have other approaches.’ Most notably, Ertel’s love of reggae led to production collaborations with celebrated reggae artists including dub master Mad Professor and legendary rhythm team Sly and Robbie. Searching for input from motorik rock and electronics, they have worked with drummer Jaki Liebezeit of krautrock supremos Can and bassist Alexander Hacke of industrial experimentalists Einstürzende Neubauten, and with their penchant for improvisation they have worked with French improvising guitarist Titi Robin and Norwegian jazz legend Bugge Wesseltoft. With their feet planted firmly in the Anadolu psych of their Istanbul base, the band have drawn threads from across the musical spectrum and woven them into a uniquely outernational expression of psychedelic rock.
BaBa Zula co-founder and percussionist Levent Akman agrees: ‘Being a member of the BaBa ZuLa group always means being ready for live recordings and concerts,’ he says. ‘The people who listened to our albums and came to our concerts sometimes told us that they couldn’t find the energy of the concerts in the albums. Every time we heard this comment it made us a bit sad. But I think that we have succeeded finally with these recordings. All the songs we recorded had an extreme positive aura to them.’
Murat Ertel also considers this session significant for another reason – it captures the band together just before the coronavirus pandemic separated them. ‘This record’s timing is also very important, because at the moment bands cannot perform,’ he says. ‘This makes the recording even more precious, because it was before the pandemic, and it shows the power of people playing together. The interplay between us, and the telepathy we have after more than twenty-five years together, really creates a group feeling.’
The result is an extraordinary recording that documents one of the world’s heaviest bands at a decisive moment in their twenty-five year history, putting everything into a live session that captures their visionary expression of classic Anadolu psychedelia at its most naturally incandescent.
About Hayvan Gibi
Hayvan Gibi is a concept album – the title means ‘to act with the natural grace of an animal’. Every song is named for a different creature, and title each brings with it a different story, some from the ancient past, some from BaBa ZuLa’s own history. Many of the songs have been recorded before in shorter studio versions, but on this record they are given the full live treatment.
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- Kücük Kurbaga (15:04)
‘Froggie’, a song composed for Ertel’s son, is 15 minutes of echoing fuzz and resonant rhythm with a dash of electronics, with Ertel playing a special electric saz that he designed himself.
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- Sipa (dub) (15:12)
‘The Foal’ was composed for a donkey and its foal that Ertel met with during a journey to Turkey’s Aegean coast. The band’s oud player and keyboardist Periklis Tsoukalas takes the lead on vocals and on electric oud – the latter also an instrument of his own design.
C1 - Kelebekler Kuslar (09:05)
‘Butterflies and Birds’. A song based on a stanza by the 14th century mystical poet Nesîmî, in which the poet dreams of visiting both sky and earth. Ertel plays the smaller-sized Cura saz – the faster parts represent the quick movement of butterflies, while the slower sections soar like birds. C2 - 4 Nal (04:28) ‘4 Horseshoes’
A breath-taking, head-nodding showcase for BaBa ZuLa’s virtuoso percussionist Ümit Adakale.
D1 - Tavus Havasi (3:53) ‘Peacock Mood’
A version of the very first BaBa ZuLa song ever written, composed by Ertel beside the sea after hearing a gull call which reminded him of the cry of the peacock. The composition originally appeared as the first song on the soundtrack for the film Tabutta Rövaşata, BaBa ZuLa’s first release in 1996. D2 - Çöl Aslanlari (07:52) ‘Desert Lions’
A favourite in BaBa ZuLa’s live sets, the brooding ‘Çöl Aslanlari’ was composed for a 1998 stage production of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince.
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