Situation:

The freedom wave in the 60s also had an effect on music.

Turkish musicians, influenced by the psychedelic movement in England, reinterpreted thousands of years old Anatolian folk music by using modern western instruments, and, thus, Anatolian Psychedelia was born. During the military coups in Turkey after 1980, these bands, which criticized the government, broke up because of increased pressure. The recordings were erased.

Because of this situation, young musicians didn’t have sufficient sources on Anatolian Psychedelia culture.

Brief:

To revive Anatolian Psychedelia musical genre, which was created by the Turkish musicians who were inspired by the musical movement in England in the past.

Objectives:

To establish bonds between countries by making use of the unifying power of music.

To endear Anatolian Psychedelia music to new generations.

Air Anatolia: The Last Anatolian Psychedelic Band

With support from the British Council, which enables the United Kingdom to connect with other countries in culture, language, art and social fields, we aimed to establish inter-country ties with the unifying power of music.

To revive the Anatolian Psychedelia music, which shelter the effects of English and Turkish musical cultures, we formed a band named Air Anatolia by bringing together the last surviving, renowned representatives of Anatolian Psychedelia with new generation musicians from England, Turkey and Europe.

The band consists of musicians who are internationally renowned in their fields. Well known musicians such as Cahit Berkay, Okay Temiz, Ahmet Güvenç, Murat Ertel, Tolga Böyük, Veyasin and Al Macsween are some of the members of this band.

Audience insights:

The bands which created Anatolian Psychedelia broke up due to the political suppression during the military coups in Turkey after 1980, because they were criticizing the government with their music. Their recordings were erased and lost.

Today, there are no sufficient source for young musicians who would like to learn and understand this musical genre. Also, the surviving representatives of Anatolian Psychedelia are not actively involved anymore.

Strategy:

We brought together the last representatives of this musical genre and young musicians to revive Anatolian Psychedelia music and to teach and endear this musical genre to the new generations, because all of the knowledge of Anatolian Psychedelia's nuances and culture are known only by these last representative musicians.

In October 2022, Air Anatolia gave a live concert in Istanbul for the first time and then in November 2022, the band took the stage at the 30th Anniversary of the London Jazz Festival as a headliner. In Istanbul 4,500 and in London 4000 audiences attended the live concerts.

Air Anatolia actively continues to make music. Preparations for a new concert has begun. It's first EP will be released very soon.

Anatolian Psychedelia song archive continues to be completed.