BaBa ZuLa turn 30 with XXX, an Istanbul record about land and resistance

BaBa ZuLa are 30 years old. Their new album lasts 30 minutes and 30 seconds. That is the neatest thing about XXX, a seven-track record released on 25 September 2026 after three decades of the Istanbul group pushing saz, dub, electronics and improvisation into their own corner of Turkish psychedelia.

The album is compact by BaBa ZuLa standards, but its subject matter is not. The band’s own notes move between Istanbul, environmental protest in Türkiye’s Aegean region, tourism, land and the question of how a group can stay recognisably local after years of international touring and collaboration.

Seven tracks for the band’s 30th year

XXX opens with the 73-second “Günlüklü Koyu Havası” and closes with the six-minute “Hak Bitmez Güç Bitee”. Between them are “Balkondaki Beyaz Çoraplı Kedi”, “Cırtlak 9”, “Kutsal Zeytin Halayı”, “Otel Kaliforniya” and “Has Halhal Dansı”.

BaBa ZuLa’s core language is still built around the saz, but the album also uses analogue electronics and guest contributions from İklim Tamkan on synthesizer and organ and Eylül Güntekin on double bass. The group has spent years crossing those sounds with dub and experimental rock, including collaborations with Mad Professor, Jaki Liebezeit of Can and Warren Ellis.

Istanbul is not just a dateline

Guitarist and vocalist Murat Ertel has been unusually clear about the band’s relationship with its home city. In the material accompanying XXX, he says their music grows from Istanbul’s culture, geography and everyday life. The point is not to make an Istanbul version of music coming from Berlin or London.

That helps explain why the record feels so specifically located on paper. Even before hearing a note, the song titles, instruments and subjects keep pulling the album back towards Türkiye rather than presenting “psychedelic music” as a placeless international style.

The environmental politics are specific

The strongest example is “Hak Bitmez Güç Bitee”. According to the band’s release notes, the track grew from local resistance to environmental destruction and extractive industry in Türkiye’s Aegean region. It includes the voice of Hatice Kocalar, a 75-year-old villager whose protests over policies affecting local communities and the natural environment became part of the song.

“Kutsal Zeytin Halayı” turns to the olive tree, while “Otel Kaliforniya” deals with tourism and the privatisation of public life. These are not decorative references to nature. They place the record inside arguments that are happening in real Turkish communities.

The next stop is Berlin

BaBa ZuLa start a European tour at SO36 in Berlin on 7 October, followed by dates in Germany, Czechia, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. The run ends with a return to Istanbul for a show at Blind on 14 November.

XXX is available digitally, on CD and on vinyl through BaBa ZuLa’s Bandcamp. The band’s official discography also carries the album and press material.

Sources checked 30 September 2026: BaBa ZuLa official site and Bandcamp. Release date, track list, running time, guest musicians, tour dates and the background to “Hak Bitmez Güç Bitee” were checked against the band’s own published material.

Featured image: BaBa ZuLa live, photograph by Davud via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.