Remake, Remix, Rip-Off: About Copy Culture & Turkish Pop Cinema

Cem Kaya’s dense documentary essay celebrates 60 years of Turkish music in Germany. An alternative post-war history that is at the same time a musical Who’s Who – from Yüksel Özkasap to Derdiyoklar and Muhabbet.

Turkish arabesque, with its bitter, fatalistic, and reproachful lyrics, first emerged as the rebellion music of the slums during the industrialisation era following the establishment of the republic. With the cultural destruction of the 1980 coup, it became a music genre for the masses. The film features pioneers of the genre, such as Orhan Gencebay, Ali Tekinture, Muhtesem Candan, and Burhan Bayar, who explain the birth of this cultural-musical phenomenon, while its evolution is interpreted by Ezel Akay, Kadir Copdemir, Haluk Cobanoglu, and Serhat Koksal. The soundtrack was selected from a wide range of venues, from beer houses to high-end restaurants, from amateurs to well-known producers.