Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek

Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek are a Munich based band that builds their sound around a westernized brand of Turkish folk with a catalog that is more or less equal parts covers of standard folk tunes and original compositions. They are quite a strong ensemble led by Derya Yıldırım, the vocalist as well as a brilliant bağlama player. An obvious point of comparison would be with the band Altın Gün, who takes a similar approach but goes in an overtly funky direction. DY&GŞ, on the other hand, stays much closer to a traditionally inspired ballad style while keeping a lighter hand on the funk. They also tend to play more on the dreamy and romantic side rather than psychedelic. The band is very effective at underscoring the dramatic dynamics of their material.