Gaye Su Akyol - "the most courageous artist in Turkey"

"Music should reflect the pain and happiness of your culture", the aim is to be “authentic and original" - Turkish psych-folk-rock singer and songwriter Gaye Su Akyol tells in the Guardian interview, as she takes London's journalist through the streets of Istanbul. Her music image may be pop, but the music veers from dark, brooding rock balladry, sometimes dressed up with twanging surf guitar, through to Turkish folk influences and tributes to her Turkish musical heroes. Once, she was questioned by the police about her lyrics - "I said it was general, not specific.”