(b Bakırköy, Istanbul, 1945). Turkish popular singer and lyricist. His parents ran a theatre in Beyoğlu, Istanbul's main theatre district, providing him with an early experience of the stage which continues to mark his distinctive and theatrical vocal style. Educated at Robert College, Istanbul, he was involved with the efforts of the Turkish left to provide an alternative to European popular culture in the late 1960s and was conspicuously associated with the Anatolian Rock movement. In 1967 he joined Apaşlar, winning a national music competition run by Hürriyet (the main Turkish daily newspaper) with Emrah, whose lyrics were drawn from the Turkish aşık repertory (see Turkey, §2) and whose music owed much to the French chanson. Success in the competition provided opportunities to travel, buy equipment and record outside Turkey; Karaca worked extensively with the Werner Müller orchestra in Germany in the late 1960s. With Kardaşlar in 1969 he employed more politically radical texts based on Anatolian models, but also attempted to reconcile the use of rural instruments with the demands of rock style. In 1972 he joined Moğollar, participating in some of the most extensive experiments in connecting rural Turkish music with European counter-culture. In 1974 Karaca joined Dervişan; their music, including the rock opera Safinaz (telling of the plight of a girl from a poor family) and 1 Mayıs (celebrating the international labour movement), attracted unwelcome attention from the Turkish right in a period of turbulent radicalism. In 1979 Karaca left the country to self-imposed exile in Germany, returning only in 1987.
Cemaz-ûl-Evvel, perf. C. Karaca, Kalan KB94.34.V.852.059 (1994)
A. Ok: 68 Çığlıkları: Anadolu Rock, Anadolu Protest, Anadolu Pop (Istanbul, 1994)
N. Hasgül: Türkiye Popüler Müzik Tarihinde Anadolu Pop Akımın Yeri, Folklora doğru, lxii (1996), 5174
MARTIN STOKES