Why I wrote this: I enjoy witnessing that good (English) music can come from "world-success-outsider" countries. I try to discover some of it. I will love to enjoy recommendations based on my listenings from you who'll read this entry.

02 Damien Rice - IRELAND
03 Ulver - NORWAY
13 U2 - IRELAND
19 Riverside - POLAND
21 Pain of Salvation - SWEDEN
24 Apocalyptica - FINLAND
25 Billie the Vision & The Dancers - SWEDEN
29 Björk - ICELAND
31 The Frames - IRELAND
36 HIM - FINLAND
37 The Gathering - THE NETHERLANDS
43 Placebo - SWEDEN/ENGLAND
45 Sezen Aksu - TURKEY

3: IRELAND
2,5: SWEDEN
2: FINLAND
1: NORWAY
1: POLAND
1: THE NETHERLANDS
1: ICELAND
1: TURKEY
=> All European!
=> All countries where English is spoken like a mother tongue, except for Poland and Turkey.
=> And Only Sezen Aksu doesn't sing in English.
=>=> Not that varied at the end of the day. :(

Performers that probably won't make it to the Top 50 next year:
- SWEDEN Pain of Salvation => Katatonia may take their place
- IRELAND The Frames => if Glen Hansard records a good album with his band or solo or with Marketa, Ireland may keep the "score"
- THE NETHERLANDS The Gathering

Countries that'll probably have more representatives in my Top 50 next year (possible new entries):
TURKEY: Bülent Ortaçgil, Athena, Yeni Türkü, Zülfü Livaneli, Barış Manço, MFÖ
GERMANY: Reinhard Mey, Blackmail, Schiller
CANADA: Alanis Morissette
JAMAICA: Bob Marley
BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA/YUGOSLAVIA: Goran Bregović
FINLAND: ShamRain
MEXICO/IRELAND: Rodrigo y Gabriela
(MEXICO/USA: If Santana comes out with another good album)
(SLOVENIA: If Laibach comes out with another good album)

I am not a great cinema fan. I think i haven't seen a movie on cinema this year until yesterday.
But this week started Hokkabaz a new Cem Yılmaz movie starring Özlem Tekin, who is currently my favorite singer according to the Last.fm "rolling 3 months charts".

Reviewers wrote that Hokkabaz, a roadmovie of two short-sighted magicians, is not as funny as G.O.R.A, the previous Cem Yılmaz movie (which unfortunately i have not seen yet). But for me it was great fun to watch and i can only recommend it. (In Vienna it is shown in only 3 cinemas, Milleniumcity, Donauplex and Lugner).

There is only one thing i missed. Two great pop musicians played main characters (next to Özlem also Mazhar Alanson of MFÖ), and a creepy home organ played a prominent role, but no single song, not even in the credits section :-(. Anybody got an explanation for this?

MFÖ 22 Temmuz - 9 Eylül Tarihlerini Kapsayan Bir Türkiye Turnesine Çıkıyor. MFÖ yü İzlemek İsteyenler İçin İşte Konser Programı:

MFÖ Efes Yaz Turnesi

MFÖ Efes Yaz Turnesi @ İstanbul
22 Temmuz Cumartesi 21:00
Kuruçeşme Arena-Konser / Pop Rock

MFÖ Efes Yaz Turnesi @ Antalya
1 Ağustos Salı 21:15
Konyaaltı Açıkhava Tiyatrosu-Konser / Pop Rock

MFÖ Efes Yaz Turnesi @ Çeşme
3 Ağustos Perşembe 21:15
Çeşme Açıkhava Tiyatrosu-Konser / Pop Rock

MFÖ Efes Yaz Turnesi @ Bodrum
5 Ağustos Cumartesi 21:15
Bodrum Antik Tiyatro-Konser / Pop Rock

MFÖ Efes Yaz Turnesi @ İzmir
5 Eylül Salı 21:00
İzmir Açıkhava Tiyatrosu-Konser / Pop Rock

MFÖ Efes Yaz Turnesi @ Bursa
7 Eylül Perşembe 21:00
Bursa Açıkhava Tiyatrosu-Konser / Pop Rock

I would like to begin this small journal about Turkish Rock. Please note the title which says "A History...", so it will by no means be exhaustive. It will simply be composed of my opinions and some other people who may be kind enough to post a reply.

The first names that come into my mind are MFÖ, Cem Karaca, Bulutsuzluk Özlemi, Ünlü, Kargo, Pentagram, Whisky, The Climb, Ersen ve Dadaslar, Sebnem Ferah, Yasar Kurt, Özlem Tekin, Baris Manco,Duman, Demir Demirkan,Erkin Koray,Kramp, Kesmeseker, Mor ve Ötesi .

Today's entry will simply be about MFÖ. Their very first albüm (as far as I know) was "Ele Güne Karsi" which contained the incredibly beautiful song Yalnızlık Ömür Boyu. although I was not old enough to figure out its true value at that time :)
Their fourth and arguably the best albüm was "Vak the Rock", one can actually see this by looking at their 1989 "Best of" albüm which contained 6 of the 10 songs from "Vak the Rock" albüm. To name a few:

Adimiz Miskindir Bizim which contained the lyrics from Yunus Emre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunus_Emre)

Bazen (I have nothing bad to say about this masterpiece)

They are still musically alive and making music albeit their production rate diminished significantly. This is mostly due to secondary jobs that the group members are on. Mazhar has released a solo albüm and all of them experienced some actorship in different productions. For me, Özkan is probably is the best "Bad Guy" ever :)

Their last albüm, which is recently released on 2006, is called "AGU". It is certainly good enough to fulfill the great expectations of the fans that had been waiting for a long time. My personal favorites are Milli Park, Sari Laleler, Silmez Gibisin where the last one is especially beautiful with the intense vocals of Fuat.