Cem Karaca facts for kids

Muhtar Cem Karaca (born April 5, 1945 – died February 8, 2004) was a very important Turkish rock musician. He was one of the main people in the Anatolian rock movement. This style of music mixes traditional Turkish folk sounds with rock music. Cem Karaca studied at Robert College. He played with many Turkish rock bands like Apaşlar, Kardaşlar, Moğollar, and Dervişan. With these groups, he brought a fresh and new sound to Turkish rock music.

Early Life and Music Beginnings

Cem Karaca was the only child of two famous actors. His father, Mehmet İbrahim Karaca, was a theater actor of Azerbaijani background. His mother, İrma Felekyan, known as Toto Karaca, was a popular opera, theater, and movie actress of Armenian background.

Cem Karaca's first band was called Dynamites. They played classic rock cover songs. Later, he joined Jaguars, a band that covered Elvis Presley songs. In 1967, he started writing his own music. He joined the band Apaşlar (The Rowdies), which was his first group to sing in the Turkish language.

That same year, he joined the Golden Microphone (Turkish: Altın Mikrofon) contest. This was a very popular music competition. He won second place with his song Emrah. In 1969, Cem Karaca and bass player Serhan Karabay left Apaşlar. They started a new Anatolian rock group called Kardaşlar (The Brothers).

Developing His Unique Sound

In 1972, Cem Karaca joined the band Moğollar (The Mongols). With them, he wrote one of his most famous songs, "Namus Belası". However, Cahit Berkay, the leader of Moğollar, wanted the band to become famous around the world. He went to France to try and make the group bigger.

Cem Karaca wanted to keep making his Anatolian rock sound. So, he left Moğollar and started his own band called Dervişan (Dervishes) in 1974. Cem Karaca and Dervişan created poetic and progressive songs.

Challenges and Exile

During the 1970s, Turkey faced a lot of political problems. There was tension between different groups in the country. Because of this, the government became suspicious of Cem Karaca. They thought he might be involved with groups that were against the government.

The government accused him of being a "separatist thinker." They tried to say that Cem Karaca was writing songs to cause trouble. One politician even said, "Karaca is simply calling citizens to a bloody war against the state." Because of these problems, Dervişan broke up at the end of 1977.

In 1978, he started a new band called Edirdahan. This name was a mix of "from Edirne to Ardahan". These are the westernmost and easternmost parts of Turkey. He recorded one album with Edirdahan.

In early 1979, Cem Karaca went to West Germany for work. In 1980, he started singing in German. He performed a song called Kız Çocuğu (meaning Little girl) by the famous poet Nâzım Hikmet. He sang the German parts, and his friend and manager, Ralf Mähnhöfer, played the grand piano. Sometimes, his band Anatology also played, singing the Turkish parts of the song.

Turkey continued to have political problems. On September 12, 1980, there was a military takeover. General Kenan Evren took control of the government. Many artists, writers, and journalists were arrested. The Turkish government issued a warrant for Cem Karaca's arrest.

The government asked Cem Karaca to come back to Turkey many times. But he didn't know what would happen to him if he returned, so he stayed in Germany. While he was in Germany, his father passed away. Sadly, Cem Karaca could not go back to Turkey for the funeral. After some time, the Turkish government took away his Turkish citizenship. The arrest warrant for him remained active.

Return to Turkey and Later Years

Several years later, in 1987, the prime minister of Turkey, Turgut Özal, gave an amnesty to Cem Karaca. This meant he could return home without being arrested. Soon after, he came back to Turkey.

His return also brought a new album called Merhaba Gençler ve Her Zaman Genç Kalanlar (meaning "Hello, The Young and The Young at Heart"). This was one of his most important works. His fans were very happy to see him back. However, during his time away, he had lost some of his younger audience.

Cem Karaca passed away from a heart attack on February 8, 2004. He was buried in Karacaahmet Cemetery in Istanbul.

His Music Albums

Cem Karaca released many songs and albums throughout his career. Here are some of his main albums:

LPs

• Apaşlar-Kardaşlar (1972)
• Cem Karaca'nın Apaşlar, Kardaşlar, Moğollar ve Ferdy Klein Orkestrasına Teşekkürleriyle (1974)
• Nem Kaldı (1975)
• Parka (1977)
• Yoksulluk Kader Olamaz (1977)
• Safinaz (1978)
• Hasret (1980)
• Bekle Beni (1982)
• Die Kanaken (1984)
• Merhaba Gençler ve Her Zaman Genç Kalanlar (1987)

Other Albums

• Töre (1988)
• Yiyin Efendiler (1990)
• Nerde Kalmistik (1992)
• Bindik Bir Alamete (1999)
• Kahpe Bizans (2000)
• Hayvan Terli (2004) (Single)

Collection Albums

• The Best of Cem Karaca Volume 1 (1996)
• The Best of Cem Karaca Volume 2 (1997)
• The Best of Cem Karaca Volume 3 (2000)
• The Best of Cem Karaca Volume 4 (2001)
• The Best of Cem Karaca Volume 5 (2002)
• Ölümsüzler (Immortals) (2004) (released after he passed away)
• Ölümsüzler 2 (Immortals 2) (2005) (released after he passed away)
• Mutlaka Yavrum (Absolutely, baby) (2006) (released after he passed away)

See also

In Spanish: Cem Karaca para niños