Obituary: Erkin Koray (1941-2023)

Of all the great heroes of Turkish rock, Erkin Koray is both the most mysterious and arguably the most important. A totemic figure, unrivalled pioneer and fearless innovator, he’s widely credited with a handful of landmark achievements: the first to play rock’n’roll in Turkey; the first to open a rock club in Istanbul; the first to sport long hair and openly embrace Western counterculture; the first rocker to critically reappraise the legacy of Arabesque music. Put simply, without Koray, there might never have been Turkish rock as we know it.

Aged just 16, Koray played his first gig in 1957, fronting teen combo Ritimcileri – a galvanising event considered Turkey’s first rock‘n’roll concert. By the early 1960s, he’d devoted himself to the electric guitar, releasing the single ‘Bir Eylül Akşami’ in 1962 – a garage-surf stormer that was the first ever Turkish-language rock‘n’roll record. In 1974, he released his first proper full-length – and his defining statement – Elektronik Türküler. It presented a daring mix of psych rock and more traditional forms, touching on 17th-century Ottoman poetry, folksong from Central Anatolia and lyrics by communist poet Nâzim Hikmet.

Koray always maintained an enigmatic distance from the left-wing political affiliations that landed some of his peers in trouble, and he enjoyed a long and highly-respected international career as Turkey’s most authentic rock god, known affectionately as ‘Erkin Baba’ (Daddy Erkin). Long-haired and leather-clad till the end, he remained a wilful outsider, a captivating performer and a true original who has inspired countless others.