Robert Crumb plays Turkish music from his record collection on John Heneghan’s Old Time Radio Show

R. Crumb is known not just for his comics but also for his prodigious collection of old '78s. Here he shares some of his Turkish records on John Henegahn's "Old Time Radio Show." Neither of them have much of a clue about the musicians or the instruments or the names, but they really do appreciate the tracks. And they are great. The only one of the artists I was familiar with on the list is Udi Hrant Kenkulian (listed here as Oudi Hrant), many of whose recordings are in print. (Crumb is apparently unaware that Hrant was Armenian.)

I really liked the track by Fikriye Hanim who, it turns out, was a companion and lover of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during the 1920. 

Here's what was published about her in the Turkish Daily News, July 4, 2006: 

The burial location of Fikriye Hanim, companion and lover of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk during the 1920s, is still unknown according to a heartbreaking story published in Sabah on Monday. Although no one is certain about how her death took place, Turkey's first unofficial "first lady" is commonly believed to have killed herself in the proximity of the Presidential Palace. Voicing speculation on the whereabouts of Fikriye Hanim's grave, Sabah writes that it could be located under a statue of Ataturk located at the Etnographic Museum, as evidence suggests that her body was transported to that location before the museum there was opened. However, there are no official records from the time of her death says Sabah, quoting a cemetery official as saying, "The systematization of burial and death records came much later than Fikriye Hanim's death." 

I wish I could find more about her. If you read Turkish, there is an entry for her on the Turkish wikipedia. (Unfortunately Google translate did not help me much in understanding it.)