Ozkent, Mustafa - Genclik Ile Elele LP

Regarded amongst collectors of Anatolian rock as The Daddy of all Turkish rarities, this instrumental record from 1973 has to be heard to be believed and even then it's still Unbelievable. Is this record for real? Either these guys had timemachines or DJ Kool Herc had secret Eastern connections. If a box of original copies of this seldom-sighted album had made its way to the South Bronx in the late seventies then Mustafa Ozkent would be sharing throne space with other ultimate breaks and beats such as Incredible Bongo Band, Funky Drummer and Johnny The Fox: bringing modern record collectors' new found Turkish obsession forward by some 20 years. To say its ambiguous sleeve design is a bit misleading is an understatement. The bright green jacket depicting a PG Tips-style monkey causing havoc in the studio is not dissimilar to an '80s chimp-sploitation poster bought from Athena. Is it a comedy record? Is it a soundtrack to a wacky Turkish movie? Is it a kids' record? A handy list of hybrid music genres fails to make the picture any clearer ''Rhythm & Soul,'' ''Blues 'N Jazz,'' ''Folc'' with a ''c''... with sounds not far from what could be Kraut,Latin, or African, also. Perhaps it's safe to say that the contents of this prize album are in fact free from categorization.