Collectors:Jonny Rock

Jonny Rock has been a key figure in London's house music scene for over a decade now, holding residencies at parties such as Classic @END (w.Derrick Carter/Luke Solomon) , KEY (Phonica), HERBAL (w. Jesse Rose) and T BAR (w.Rob Mello & Matt Styles). In addition Jonny is also a longstanding member of Luke Solomon and Justin Harris' seminal live band "Freaks". Aside from his dancefloor-related activities, Jonny has been collecting, editing and mixing Turkish music for a number of years under the "Afacan Sound System" moniker. With the recent release of his mix cd "SAYK 2" we caught up with Jonny for the first instalment of our "Collectors" series to discuss his love of Turkish music.

LN-CC: Can you tell us a bit about how you got into collecting Turkish music?

Jonny Rock: It's been from nearly seven or eight years ago, maybe more. I used to go home back to Istanbul to my parents house, and one of the joys of my day would be sitting on the big couch at home, eating fruits and watching Turkish movies one after the other. There would always be these bar scenes with the band in the back and I was like wow... that's old school funky stuff! I always wondered "where would these people be now"... for 3 years or so... until I found a record store in downtown Istanbul where a couple of guys pulled out some 7's and asked "is this the kind of stuff you are looking for?" From then on it was...well... another illness had started! In the last four or five years I have found maybe four good record dealers who know what I look for and I go relentlessly digging there!

LN-CC: So you go back to Turkey pretty regularly?

Jonny Rock: Yes, I go back every few months or so. I don't make a visit to the shops every time but when I do I'm always intrigued.

LN-CC: So these dealers have a pretty good idea of what you are looking for now?

Jonny Rock: Yeah, if I do find a street stall I always pick through some bits. I don't just leave it to the professionals! There is however less and less dusty shops and bookstores that have this stuff because people are now more clued up that these records are in demand. A lot of dealers are now selling on Turkish eBay.

LN-CC: Is there a demand for these old records domestically too?

Jonny Rock: It has risen in recent years. There was a movie that was based on a guy who was into old Turkish film music. From then on, the prices rocketed. Luckily I had most of my collection before that. The places I found my records are not cheap anymore, to find copies in good condition is getting harder but where there's a will there's a way! Again it's not just one particular genre of Turkish music that I'm into, I like big band music, Anatolian rock and pop from the 70's, all sorts... there was a massive underground scene in the 60's or 70's -- some of those groups made it commercially successful within the pop world of Turkey. Even the ones that made it big in pop, you can look at their early works and see what content was in there and what they were doing, and it's amazing!

LN-CC: Was that scene based around Istanbul?

Jonny Rock: It was pretty much everywhere. Izmir, Bursa, there used to be a competition called "Alten Mikrophon" or "Golden Microphone", which lots of bands got involved in - high school bands and all sorts. Some of them are one hit wonders with one track on one seven inch. I always wonder what happened to those guys, some of them made it on to perform as the backing for pop stars, often they weren't credited on the posters records because at the time it was all about the pretty lady on the cover! There influence was there though, there are tracks that sound French influenced, rock influenced, some stuff that sounds almost like Led Zeppelin, French library records. Within the same era everyone within Turkey did what they did best, if they were somewhere else in the world maybe they would have done something else! There is a lot of Beach Boys sounding stuff, I call a lot of these "Middle Eastern Ventures", I love the Ventures, the 60's surf music, but there was a lot of that in Turkey even though there was no surfing. I actually met a guy from a band called Baez Kela Eklar, which means "White Butterflies", he was the guitar player. We got talking and he said he had the guitar of the guy from the Shadows. Another guy from another band called Yu Dai Dolar was so hungry for this guitar so he passed it on to him, the guy was so energetic and I always wondered where those guitar riffs came from!

LN-CC: Are there any artists who stand out for you as being particularly important?

Jonny Rock: Obviously the master Baris Manco is a brother to all of us. He is the one that made a lot of this music accessible to the public. You look at his early works and his attitude, it's amazing. We used to listen to him in the car on the way to holidays, now I look back into those tracks and I guess I was exposed to that music when I was seven or eight years old going on Easter holiday or something, other than that I have discovered a lot of great artists. There are a lot of foreign artists who sang in Turkish and a lot of pop band that had flexibility to experiment in their earlier works. Some of it is psychedelic, some of it is disco, and some of it is pop -- anything that gives me that melancholy mood. I see more people getting into 70's Turkish music, some of it is not so accessible for me as it reminds me just of my childhood but at the right wedding party you can get away with it!

LN-CC: Are there any records that you are still trying to track down?

Jonny Rock: No, I got everything! Na... I have gathered 200-300 7s, so it is getting harder for me to find stuff. Now I generally just look out for stuff that I haven't heard of. Anything that looks a bit weird or obscure. I have the luxury of meeting guys who get these records out for me, play them on a soundsystem and they say "this is the band... this is the background story". One of the dealers I know has now opened a shop on the Aegean side of Istanbul, I can't wait to go! He and another dealer always search for collections in Turkey. There are less people bringing records to the shops now so it's a matter of going out and looking for collections.

LN-CC: You were involved in a Turkish music project called Disco Hamman - Can you tell us a bit about this?

Jonny Rock: Yes, obviously there are a few crews in Turkey that are really into it, they put the time and effort in, they have good taste and good hearts. Baris K is my main man in turkey with his taste and attitude. He had done some edits and we decided it was time for them to be released, so it came about. Disco Hamman was trying to spread the love overseas, there will be more, maybe a Psyche Hamman and different sorts of Hammans coming through!

Sevil and Ayla - Bebek / Irgat

These are two girls who were prodigies of Baris Manco. They sang on one of his records too. To me it sounds like the Turkish "Whole Lotta Love" It's got the Led Zeppelin vibe but you can feel that it has Baris' touch. As far as I know they only did one more record which is not so good. The lyrics are very sad; it's about the kid being taken away and the woman losing her mind. I still want to play it because of the music but the lyrics do make me a bit sad! Baris did a few of these things in his early days, but when he broke through he focused mostly on playing with his band Kurtalan Express, a really solid unit. I had the pleasure of seeing him live in concert when I was a kid; I wish I could pay to see that again!

Mogallar - Ternek / Halicte Gunesin Batisi

I think that Mogallar did break through to Europe, they had a record on a French label I think. They are an Anotolian rock group, this particular track, I don't know why but I love it to bits! It always reminds me of 60's graduation, end of school feeling, like the last day of school in Dazed and Confused. It's got that West Coast Californian rock vibe. When it drops, it's sounds like it could be a Shaun Phillips record. This is the one that they didn't go too ethnic in. Sometimes they go too ethnic but this is nicely balanced. They were a big landmark band; they still perform as a band to this day.

Bermuda Seytan Ucgeni

This means Bermuda Triangle in Turkish. That's the name of the group, and there is no track name, it's credited to Umitaqs orchestra. A one-off weirdo record, I was happy to get my hands on this, I found it in a street fair in the middle of Istanbul. The condition isn't great but I'm happy with it! Again very European, Library style!

Ritm 68 Orkestrasi - Tatli Bir Askin Hikayesi

This is another Beach Boys California style number - they did a few sevens I'm not sure if they have a lot of releases, I have maybe two of them, some of them you have to play at minus eight as they are super fast. This features on my next comp Psyche 2. Very film music style, so melancholic I love it!

Onder Bali - Haluk Icin

I was so happy I got this. It's in a bad condition but I'd say if you ever see this, no matter what condition, pick it up! It's by Onder Bali - he normally does ethnic taverna style music with clarinets, like belly dancer style. He has some great belly dancing albums but this is a totally oddball one, like cartoon chase music!

Esin Afsar - Yagan Yagmur

This one's for Baris K! It's by a lady called Esin Afsar. She is normally a folk singer. I put it in a mix a few years ago and still love it to bits. I don't know how you would describe this, It's very stripped down. It's a shame, I wish that the parts where recorded in different channels and that I could get the parts for this!

Zumrut - Zumrut

This is my new discovery of this year, a Turkish lady called Zumrut. She did a lot of foreign covers, like the Beatles, Charlie Chaplin. There's nothing she hasn't done! This album features a cover of Hard Day's Night. I don't know what year it is, maybe early 80's. She has one album and a load of sevens. The album was quite expensive; Hard Day's Night is not available on any of the sevens though. I lost sleep over not having it so I had to pick it up! Some mellow numbers on this LP too. I put about four tracks of hers in my new compilation Psyche 2.

Erkut Tackin - Sorsam Ki

This track was the base for an edit I did on Wolf and Lamb. This guy is more like a rock'n'roller. Some of the crew in Turkey they got him to perform live recently but instead of stuff like this he played rock'n'roll wedding style and it didn't work so well! There is one little break that is so good, so I extended it for the edit.

Ipucu 5 - Heycanli

I highly recommend this track "heycanli" which means "excited". I also recommend checking the live video on YouTube, it's totally psychedelic and they look off their nuts! They became a good mainstream pop band that I listened too as a kid but this is an early project. It's pretty funky oriented. They had more freedom during this time I guess. A really tight band.

Okay Temiz With John Diani - Elhamdullah Marimba

This is Okay Temiz with John Diani. I got exposed to this record a couple of years ago. It's a record that my friend Zoltan played on his amazing soundsystem and it really flits around from the left and right speakers. They experimented not just with the music but with the recording techniques. Okay Temiz was never shy of experimenting, especially with unusual Turkish instruments.

Lili Ivanova - Nisan Sarkisi

She is from Romania and sang with the Durun Ganga 5. The Durun Ganga 5 did their own albums but were also a great backing band behind many artists. The track means April's Fool. I picked this up from Izmir, where I spent a lot of time in the summer. Since I discovered this one shop I go and visit two or three times each year.

Sevket Ugurluer - Darildinmi Cicim Bana

Last but not least: This guy used to be on Sunday daytime TV programs, we always thought he was, not a bit of a joke, but not too serious. Now I look at his earlier stuff and I can't help myself loving it and giving him the credit that it due. Everyone will probably be "what?" about me selecting this but I really like it. 50's surf-style, and the band behind it is great. Definitely an end of the night record!

Interview by Jonny Nash
Photography by Ben Benoliel