Ever heard about Sagopa Kajmer? No? And Aphrodite's Child? Anyone?
The two bond in fascinating fashion, yet Sagopa is a rapper from Turkey and the latter is a 60's band from Greece.
It all started when me and my buddies enjoyed a rare treat: getting a lift to our dorm by our teacher. A catchy tune came from the car's speakers and I dared to ask for the artist: what I got was more than a name. I got my hands on the album of Sagopa Kajmer. Well, rap doesn't really make sense when you aren't getting a word so I got bored of it quite fast yet I couldn't resist perpetually listening the following song:
This mysterious tune just resembles the waves of the Black Sea, I told myself and Sagopa's deep thoughts were merely assisting. Years after, sitting in my father's crib (yo) I took advantage of him not putting any music on, so I grabbed my phone and started the song above. Wow, the waves again!, I thought again. And wow, my father says, how come you know that? asks, coming from the other room. Impossible. How does my father know contemporary Turkish rap? So there he goes to the record player, roams through his collection, picks out one album and puts the pickup on it. Wow. Now I'm listening in awe: is that Sagopa Kajmer from a damn record? Soon enough I realize it's not the case. It's Aphrodite's Child and the Aegean Sea:
Really? The issue though isn't Sagopa stealing the whole instrumental part (rapping and dropping the beat doesn't really conceals the thievery), no. Eventually, even Kanye West had to steal from Hungarian pioneer rock band Omega. It's the whole discovery that I impersonated Sagopa's track with the Black Sea waves and here the original song comes throwing "Aegean Sea" in my face! I'm just astonished.
Furthermore, I broke my unholy relationship with Turkish rap as the only catchy song they produced was actually done 40 years before by -the otherwise much disliked- Greek guys (Vangelis, Demis Roussos anyone?). Plus I discovered another branch of progressive-psychedelic rock. Has to be the silver lining.
