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Baba Zula and Mad Professor
Psyche-belly dance music (Doublemoon)

There's little explaining this insanely entertaining recording of Turkish music gone Mad (Professor, that is). Founded in 1996 in Istanbul, the band is now Levent Akman (percussion, rhythm machines, toys), Murat Ertel (saz and other strings,vocal), Oya Erkaya (bass guitar, vocal) and Emre Onel (darbuka, sampler, vocal) and American William Macbeth (bass, double bass). melding traditional Turkish musical instruments with electronic elements, contemporary beats and on this recording, the vibrant vision of one of tyhe UK's most notoriuos masher/producers, Mad Professor.

The band says:
he group, founded in 1996 by Levent Akman (percussion, rhythm machines, toys), Murat Ertel (saz and other strings,vocal) and Emre Onel (darbuka, sampler, vocal) in Istanbul, was joined by William Macbeth (bass, double bass) from San Fransisco in that same year. Working as a four-man core team since then, the group was augmented by the new member Oya Erkaya (bass guitar, vocal), getting its final form in 2002.

With its specifically unique sound created by melding traditional Turkish musical instruments with electronic elements, Baba Zula has brought a brand new dimension to Turkish Folk Music. Baba Zula's music is basically an amalgamation of recorded natural sounds with both traditional and modern acoustic and electronic musical instruments, a culmination of disparate electronic effects. Starting out by improvisations, later fixed into musical elements which make up their music such as theme, tune, style and sound, reached through recordings and rehearsals, the group has carried this method of "defined improvisation" into concerts, movies, theatrical plays, use of video, slides and films, prepared by the additional members who have joined forces with the core group in its live performances.

The group, which from the very beginning has shown great interest in featuring guest musicians and players in concerts and albums, has been accompanied by stars such as the Thracian Selim Sesler (clarinet master), the Canadian singer Brenna McCrimmon (specialized in Balkan folk music), Okan Özpoyraz (drummer), Fahrettin Aykut (drummer), Tuncel Kurtiz (movie star and player), Ahmet Uğurlu (movie star and player), Hüsnü Şenlendirici (Clarinet master from "Laço Tayfa"), Ralph Carney from San Fransisco (saxophonist) and the diva Semiha Berksoy (first Turkish opera singer and painter).

Baba Zula's debut album, " Tabutta Rovasata = Somersault in the Coffin" (Ada Music), including the original soundtrack for dervis Zaim's first movie with the same title about a car thief who returned the cars he stole to their owners and fell in love with a peacock, was released in 1996. The album also includes four songs in which the movie stars Ahmet Ugurlu, Tuncel Kurtiz and Aysel Aydemir contribute in vocals.

Their album, " 3 Oyundan 17 Müzik" (Doublemoon) comprising music created for the plays " The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery, " Frog Tales" by Arnold Lobel and " Kitchen Accidents" by Perihan Mağden, was released in 1999. Apart from a number of other artists, Ralph Carney, Brenna McCrimmon and Selim Sesler have also taken part in this album as guest stars. Baba Zula, who has also made the music for the film " Renkli Türkçe = Colored and in Turkish", directed by Ahmet Cadırcı and about a movie mechanic falling in love with an ex-pornstar, has also taken stage in Britain and Macedonia. Baba Zula also opened Manu Chao concert which took place in June 2002 during Efes Pilsen Summer Festival.

Levent Akman and Murat Ertel of Baba Zula were invited to Cologne, Germany to perform with two German musicians Gerard Doeke and Norbert Torzik at the Mediteranneen Film Festival on the 6th and 8th of December

The group continues to make music for movies and theatre, and to perform in concerts