Dostlar, I set you an almost impossible task!

Name your favorite three Barış Manço songs, in descending order. After a week, if we get a good response, I will tabulate the results and we will see which song wins!

I say this is an almost impossible task because I have trouble choosing only three myself. Whatever Barış song I am listening to at the moment is my favorite! (Although I must admit, I have never liked "Nick the Chopper." I´m afraid this is an English translation problem, though.) Here are three I could listen to constantly with no problem:

1) İşte Hendek İşte Deve

2) Ölüm Allahın Emri

3) Yaz Dostum

I listened to his song god-knows-how-many times and I like all of them. I bought his every CD I found.

Anyway here´s a list of mine (just as I choose when I type at this moment, another time I would probably choose some different ones):

- Ben bilirim

- Kara sevda

- Can bedenden çıkmayınca

Thank you for starting up this nice thread. Yes, it is an impossible task to pick three songs among all other songs of him. In his songs he doesn´t just sing but he interprets the deeper emotions of Turkish Nation. As a Mançofan, I can say that ;

There are very few people in the history of world  like Barış Manço  who was a singer with great voice, a good teacher, real intellectual, example person and above all he was a humanist who was loved by anyone from age 7  to 77.

If I had to pick 3 of them, I can think of, would be ;

1. Yol verin ağalar beyler

2. Gül pembe

3. Gönül Dağı [ Although this is not his song, [it is Neşet Ertaş"s song] he sang it amazingly. 

1) Kol Düğmeleri (my all time favorite of Barış Manço)

2) Gülpembe

3) Can Bedenden Çıkmayınca

Vote! Vote! Vote!

If you love Turkish culture, Barış Manço is a modern part of it you must not miss! He began making music as a teenager in the era of Elvis Presley. From pure late-1950s rock-and-roll, he moved through nearly every progressive movement of rock and pop of the 1960s and 1970s, combining Eastern and Western sounds to become one of the main originators of Anatolian Rock. He was also funny and charming and a man of the world who spoke many languages and was interested in many cultures. But clearly his heart was in Türkiye!

Here is a very good place to start to learn about Barış -- a short article with several of his most famous songs attached. Please listen! There is much more out there on YouTube. And then please vote for your favorite Barış Manço song. It will not take you long to find one!

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/01/134951290/five-songs-from-the-zenith-of-turkish-progressive-rock

P.S. -- Thank you very much to those of you who have already voted!

Here´s an alternate list from me:

- Binboğanın kızı

 A great song for my musical taste. Unfortunately I couldn´t find a good record of it. Even the CD track I have is not so good.

- Dağlar dağlar

 This another legendary song by Barış.

- Nick the chopper

 This is another favorite track of mine and my brother´s. I listened to it from my brother´s bağlama many times.

How about this one?: Lory. From 1968.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zTTmmQShMk

Two questions:

One: Lory here is a name? It is not the spelling we would use in American English, so I always sort of wondered. 

Two: Can you please translate Binboğanın Kizı. Something girl? But that is as far as I have ever gotten.

q1: No idea. I never listened to it before.

q2: Binboğa (lit. 1000 bulls) is the (nick?) name of a rich, powerful man whose girl Barış is in love (in the song).Lyrics is about an impossible love between a poor man a rich girl.

baba ocağından çıktım yıllar öncesi.
bir gün kader karşıma çıkardı seni.
bir göründün, bir yok oldun serap misali.
dere tepe demem güzel, ararım seni. (x2)

kurda kuşa akıl sordum; dediler vazgeç.
binboğa´nın kızıdır o, sana ne gerek?
bir göründün, bir yok oldun serap misali.
dere tepe demem güzel, ararım seni (x2)

(elektro gitar solosu, ardından giren tipik bir murat ses klavyesi solosu...)

kozan yaylasından geldim barış´tır adım.

I come from Kozan plateau, they call me "Barış"
bugün varsak yarın yoğuz, doğrudur sözüm.

Today we exist, gone tomorow, it´s my true words
bir gün elbet biter vadem, çağırır tanrım.

My numbered days will sure be over one day and my God will call me
artık mahşer gününde ararım seni.

Then I will continue to search for you on other side as well

inan mahşer gününde ararım seni. (x2)

Believe me I will continue to search for you on other side as well

Will there be a prize at the end? By the way I know Barış Manço was a great musician but don´t ignore Cem Karaca. His influence was as big as Barış´s on the Turkish rock music.

Quote: Gokuyum

Will there be a prize at the end?  By the way I know Barış Manço was a great musician but don´t ignore Cem Karaca. His influence was as big as Barış´s on the Turkish rock music.

Oh, the prize is soaking in all this wonderful music! 

Yes, I would like to learn more about other Turkish musicians of Barış´s era. I know a tiny bit about Erkin Koray and Murat Ses. There is a wonderful collection of Turkish rock that you probably already know of: Turkish Freakout. There are two albums now. This is where I started learning about Anatolian Rock and Barış, who not only performed himself but produced others´ music as well.

To si++, thank you for the great explanation of Binboğanın Kızı. Once again, a poignant song from Barıs.

Another of my favorites: Hal Hal. As with İşte Hendek İşte Deve, I love the lyric here! Watch Barış in this clip -- it is a good example of his showmanship. He always knows where the camera is, he sings to his audience, he adds movement to keep the performance from becoming static, he includes his bandmates with his gestures. He is wonderful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGDmOb1E47s

I could add so many other songs! The list seems endless!

Do you know Barış Manço played in a movie? Its name is "Baba Bizi Eversene". Here is a clip form the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZU2PvFpz5U&feature=related

Yes, I love "Baba Bizi Eversene"! Barış is so funny and lovable in this movie, snapping his suspenders like a Charlie Chaplin character! Or at the end of your clip, where he accidentally takes a drink from the baby´s bottle!

I have also found this movie is a good place to test my Turkish skills. Every time I watch I pick up a little bit more of what is being said. A very little bit, mind you, but I am making progress!

Also a great clip from this movie: "Ben bilirim." Barış at his most attractive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jBzHVAofm0 

Wow you already know a lot. Do you know Barış Manço´s mother Rikkat Hanım was a singer too. And she sang one of Barış´s songs?. But she couldn´t sing the words "Barış will die one day and will be soil" in the end of the song and she changed them.

She changed the end like this:

Barış will grow and be a man

Barış will be a soldier and cannoneer

Barış will be a father

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvnMNmkuYKQ

original song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfo1gMEw2x8&feature=related

Yes, I have seen this clip, and I love this song. "Gülme Ha Gülme." (Don´t Laugh, Ha, Don´t Laugh -- Do I have this right?) I had never heard the story about her changing the lyrics at the end, though. That is very touching. And then when Rikkat Hanım died, Barış sang "Gül Pembe" for her, yes?

I read somewhere that he wrote that song for his grandmother after her death. Actually some people also believe that it was written for Prophet Mohammed. Because in İslam rose is the symbol of the prophet. So they established a connection between prophet and the name Rosepink.

Binboğa is the name of a mountain series in Turkey. So Binboğa´nın kızı means "daughter of Binboğa mountains" She is like a fairy, she appears and disappears suddenly.

Ah, yes, I think you are right about it being Barış´s grandmother. This from Wikipedia: "Gülpembe" was composed by Kurtalan Ekspres bassist Ahmet Güvenç as a requiem for Manço´s grandmother.

There is a short song that seems to be played often before "Gülpembe" that almost sounds like a chant to me. It contains the line "Gel, gülüm, gel," which I think is very beautiful. (Also, it is one of the first command sentences I came across after learning about imperatives in Turkish!  I was very happy that I could understand it!) ... "Bahçede Hanımeli." Honeysuckle in the Garden? ... Are these songs considered a pair?

Both are very beautiful.

OK.

But still the following implies that there is powerful man (father) between the lovers.

Binboğanın kızıdır o sana ne gerek

She´s the daughter of "Binboğa", she´s not for you.

I mean what kind of obstacle can you imagine if she´s only a girl from "Binboğa". Do you mean it´s only the moutains that blocks "Barış" reaching her?

I have the imperession that there is somebody in between.

Actually I made a mistake. I presented my interpretion as the only one. Yours is possible too. Because being open to many interpretions is one of the speacialities of literature. We can´t limit its interpretions. Even author can´t do it.

VOTE RESULTS!

Dostlar, it has been a week since our Barış Manço song contest began. Though we were not flooded with responses, I have tried to do a tally.

Methodology: I assigned first-place choices three points, second-place choices two points, and third-place choices one point. I am also letting si++ vote twice, because he is such a devoted Barış Manço fan.  (I do not believe our "very scientific results" have been unduly skewed.)

The songs nominated and the points they drew:

Gül Pembe: 4 points

Ben Bilirim, Binboğanın Kızı, İşte Hendek İşte Deve, Kol Düğmeleri, Yol Verin Ağalar Beyler: 3 points each

Can Bedenden Çıkmayınca, Dağlar Dağlar, Kara Sevda, Ölüm Allahın Emri: 2 points each

Gönül Dağı, Nick the Chopper, Yaz Dostum: 1 point each

This makes Gül Pembe the winner, though by a small margin and with many strong contenders on its heels. In the end, our pool of votes was small but heartfelt. My analysis: No one song truly dominated, which shows how deep and diverse Barış´s songbook was and how high the quality across the board. He was a master!

Thank you for playing!

I leave you with this gem: Bir Selam Sana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVUOWzfhvek