Baba Zula - Karen Willems 'Terre Sol Four'

The unrivalled masters of 21st century Turkish psychedelic music play their own compositions with such a heavy dose of improvisation that every gig becomes very different than the one before attracting and pushing fans to experience more and more shows just like Deadheads.

Born in Istanbul in 1996, BaBa ZuLa features founding members Levent Akman (spoons, percussions, machines, toys), Murat Ertel (electric saz and other stringed instruments, vocals, theremin), as well as darbuka and percussion player Ümit Adakale and Esma Ertel on vocals and dancing.

BaBa ZuLa go to great lengths to provide their fans with a unique live show experience. Their ritual like performances are a mixture of disciplines of art, often featuring belly dancers, elaborate costumes, poetry and theatre delivering viewers a tantalizing audio-visual feast.The unique electric saz designed specially by Ertel himself together with a wooden spoon can serve as musical compass to Turkish musical roots going as far back as pre-Islamic, shamanic times, through Anatolia and silk and spice road culture and legends reaches all the way up to present-day İstanbul.

KAREN WILLEMS

One thing is certain. Karen Willems relies on her feel. Amazement, connection and intuition are her driving forces, things that quickly result in a cross-border approach.In her search for the essence she explored pop, jazz, kraut and prog rock, experimental music, avant-garde and free improvisation. It is therefore not surprising that her formative records vary widely; from Charles Mingus to Vangelis, from Moondog to The Breeders, from Papa Jo Jones to John Carpenter.

Her expressive, physical drum and percussion technique brought her to Alabaster DePlume, Yuko, Zita Swoon and Novastar, among others. With her project Inwolves she took the first steps towards the discovery of the essence of her own music. Her solo project ‘Terre Sol’ elaborates on this and with the album ‘Grichte’, which was released on WERF Records in 2022, the debut was a fact. It is a diptych in which, among other things, the introduction of three saxes is striking.

Karen’s personal research ‘Terre Sol’ is now given the addition ‘Four’, which refers to the number of musicians: Karen Willems (drum, percussion, vocals), Naomi Sijmons (vocals, elec. guitar, synth) Marc De Maeseneer (baritone sax, bugel) and Vincent Brijs (baritone & tenor sax, flute). Not the least in their field, with references such as Lady Linn, Lucid Lucia, Reena Riot, The Whodads, El Tatoo Del Tigre.

On the album ‘Juju’ (May 2024, WERF Records) the four-piece digs even deeper and the results are utterly spellbinding, swerving from introspective exploration to expressionist riff rock and semi-Dadaistavant-garde. The playing feels confident, diverse and punchy. There are rich vocal arrangements, roaring saxes and sweeping melodies. Eccentricity and playfulness go hand in hand with exercises in tension and release, and calls for connection in antisocial times.