Gaye Su Akyol (Turkey)

The last decade, Gaye Su Akyol has been one of the brightest stars of the alternative Turkish music scene. Her albums have shown an artist willing and able to search for new ways of expanding the anatolian psych rock tradition. On stage, she is one of the most charismatic front figures on the current rock scene. Her smoky voice and atmospheric, almost occult stagecraft can make her feel like a singer from another time. But the immediacy of her lyrics and the postmodern playfulness of her band makes Gaye Su Akyol an artist speaking to the present moment.

In 2022, she released Anadolu Ejderi (Anatolian Dragon) on Glitterbeat Records worldwide. Just like on the previous albums, she broadened her palette - the Anatolian folk and pop music gave way to excursions into African and Middle Eastern sounds, the soul revolution, disco and beyond. There is a melancholy side to this playfulness with the past, as shown in the album's lyrics. “Things were lost in a city we loved,” she has said. “Politically and economically we’re witnessing a country in collapse. There is a lost culture in this country, so much has gone. I had a chance to see the beauty of the past. Now it’s going down and down.” The same can not be said for Gaye Su Akyol. Anadolu Ejderi might be her best yet - “a meteor of fresh Turkish psychedelia”, she calls it. When she visited Oslo World in 2018, she left a lasting impression. We cannot wait to see her again.