Baba Zula - XXX Baba Zula

"Since 1996 they've won global cultish acclaim for their channeling of Can, early Floyd, Mad Professor and (guitarist and compatriot) Erkin Koray via Turkish traditional folk...groovily rebellious." - UNCUT

Three decades into their extraordinary journey, the legendary Istanbul-based collective BaBa ZuLa return with XXX – a hypnotic, uncompromising and undeniably vital statement of artistic freedom.

Weaving together shapeshifting rhythms, hypnotic saz-driven atmospherics, and deep sonic rituals, the new album celebrates a band that has spent the past thirty years continuously redefining the possibilities of Turkish psychedelic music.

There are few groups in contemporary music whose work becomes more unpredictable with time. Fewer still who, after thirty years of existence, sound more adventurous, stranger and more radical than ever before. BaBa ZuLa belong to that rare category.

Their music long ago transcended the boundaries of psychedelic rock, evolving into a singular sonic universe where Anatolian traditions collide with dub, electronics, performance art, avant-garde aesthetics and ritualistic trance. It is no coincidence that over the years they have collaborated with visionary artists such as Mad Professor, Jaki Liebezeit of Can, members of Faust and Einstürzende Neubauten, and Warren Ellis of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

Each encounter left its trace, yet none altered the essence of the band. BaBa ZuLa have remained committed to their own path — restless, exploratory and defiantly resistant to fashions and definitions.

XXX is the latest chapter in that story. The album moves through dreamlike narratives, social commentary and contemporary mythologies. Pulsating rhythms, transformed saz textures, analogue electronics and hypnotic grooves create a space where reality and imagination dissolve into one another.

True to form, XXX balances instrumental excursions and exploratory taksims with a series of original texts that are unmistakably BaBa ZuLa’s own. By turns playful, visionary and fiercely political, they draw connections between folklore, urban life, ecology, memory and resistance, grounding the album’s sonic adventures in a deeply human narrative.

BaBa ZuLa are:
Levent Akman – spoons, percussion, machines, toys
Murat Ertel – electric saz, other stringed instruments, vocals, theremin, drums
Ümit Adakale – darbuka, percussion
Esma Ertel – vocals