Dogan Mehmet
Dogan
Hobgoblin HOBCD1010
***
Full Price (44 mins)
Dogan Mehmet is a British folk original: a Brighton-born, second generation Turkish Cypriot singer and fiddler, runner up at the 2008 BBC Young Folk Awards, and on a mission to bring his two cultures that little bit closer together. His debut album duly contains a curious mix of English and Turkish traditional folk songs, and some self-penned folk-rock numbers in English. Although it is his punky renditions of English songs – like opening track ‘Wraggle Taggle Gypsies’, with its introduction of eery, autotuned vocals over a brooding, layered violin drone – that are destined to attract most attention, it is not really until the first Turkish-language song that the album starts to shine. ‘Dillirga’, with its soaring crowd-pleasing chorus, is a definite highlight. Elsewhere there are flashes of the Pogues, Seth Lakeman and even early Klezmatics. A bit more production and mixing polish would have given an extra oomph that is occasionally lacking – but this is a promising start from a talent to watch.