Women of Istanbul
Once Mustafa Atatürk founded a secular state in Turkey in the 1920s, women's role in society was strengthened. Consequently, a flood of women entered music, notably as supper club singers. Nonetheless, it was a risky proposition, due to Islamic beliefs, for most women to perform in public. So the phonograph provided a way for women to contribute to Turkey's burgeoning, albeit overly-Westernized and sanitized (the flip side of Atatürk's influence) pop culture. These tunes, made between 1928-53, are traditional folk songs, religious classical, and light cabaret-style cantos. Whether backed by swelling, full groups or single instruments, these women could belt and balladize, in a wholly Turkish mixture of European and Middle Eastern styles. This is extremely rare, previously undocumented music; it's phenomenally moving, liberating stuff.--Mike McGonigal