Turkish psychedelic rock developed a global following in the 1970s — it’s a mix of traditional melodies and instrumentation combined with the ripping funk and disco of the era. In the past decade, this folk-disco mash-up has had a resurgence, and bands like Altın Gün in the Netherlands and singer Gaye Su Akyol in Turkey are drawing young people to the dance floors from Istanbul to Amsterdam. 

Now, in the middle of the US, Turkish cellist Ezgi Karakus is launching her own take on the genre.

“I think about, like, dancy moves but sad lyrics — and people are dancing through it,” said Karakus. 

The Ezgi Band formed when Karakus was approached by Kansas City musicians Brandon Moser and Cole Bales of the local soul band The Freedom Affair to perform songs in the 1970s Turkish disco style.

“I was thinking, why don’t I write original stuff in that energy, in that kind of vibe … which is more risky as a musician,” she said.

Karakus told them she wanted to make a whole album of original songs. 

Seventeen years ago, Ezgi Karakus moved from the coastal city of Izmir, Turkey, to West Virginia to study with a particular cello teacher. She came to Kansas City, Missouri, in 2013 to do her PhD at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory.

Karakus was attracted to Kansas City because it seemed like a liveable city with a lot of live music, and she’s been exploring the city’s jazz, country, Spanish and Latin American music — and the list goes on.

“As a musician, I feel like there’s no day that you feel like, ‘Oh, I got everything, and I’m good to go.’ Every day, I’m just like, ‘What can I learn and get better at?’” she said.

Over the past few years, Karakus has also researched the work of contemporary classical composers writing new music based on old Turkish folk songs. 

“I remember my grandparents singing them, or I remember hearing it on the radio — they’re very old Turkish folk tunes that people know.”

Karakus reached out to some of these composers, including Turgay Erdener, to ask if she could perform their works, including some that have never been professionally recorded.

Accompanied by pianist Po Sim Head, Karakus sings the original folk songs first, then dices into the pieces on cello.

The lyrics of these folk songs are sad and deep, Karakus said, on the surface they’re about unrequited love or arranged marriages, but they’re also about how people grapple with old traditions in their current lives. 

“When I think about those melodies, they are kind of part of us and the history. I think they were trying to connect [to] something bigger [more] than anything,” Karakus said.

That’s what Karakus is doing with her new disco project, Ezgi Band. The band’s first single, released on March 8, International Women’s Day, is called “Kadin,” or “woman,” in Turkish.

“I wrote that specifically for a woman, actually, it’s not a love song, it’s being a woman,” she said. “How hard, how difficult it is.”

She doesn’t believe in translating the lyrics for her US audience; she wants them to feel the vibe. 

The latest single, “Yine Bana Gel (Come to Me),” came out in September. And people are coming to see her perform.

“I just wanted to create new stuff and I feel lucky that actually I could do it,” Karakus said, “I’m very proud of it, honestly. I never thought I could.”