A Distinctive Album in Turkey: Bülent Ortaçgil’s Benimle Oynar Mısın

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to explore prominent musician Bülent Ortaçgil’s album Benimle Oynar Mısın (1974). Built upon a musicological and sociological analysis, our main goal is to investigate the effects of this album, which did not attract attention when it was first published, but gained visibility in the following years. This album, which arguably had a protest structure, emerged in the period when the Anatolian Pop movement was dominant, yet showed very different features from this genre. In this investigation, in which we also conducted an analysis considering the concepts of ‘protest music’ and ‘protest musician’, we focused on the features of the album that differed from the early musical examples of the Anatolian Pop movement, which also exemplifies the 1970s protest music in Turkey. We utilized Howard Becker’s “art worlds” approach to discuss how this album, which has different musical elements and unusual lyrics for the time period when it was released, has become a milestone for music production in Turkey over the years. Then, we examined how divisions of labor occurred in the art worlds in which Ortaçgil positioned himself. One of the most important findings of this study is that, starting from his first album, Ortaçgil’s positioning in the various art worlds in Turkey, in relation to the most prominent artists from Turkey, increased his opportunities to make his album and other songs recognizable over years.