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Manço was born in
Istanbul, Turkey on January 2, 1943. His mother Rikkat
Uyanık was a famed singer in early 1940s. His older
brother, who was born during World War II, was named
Savaş ("war" in Turkish) while he was named Barış
("peace" in Turkish) by his parents to celebrate the end
of the war. Allegedly he was the very first person to
have this first name, which is now fairly popular in
Turkey.
During his primary school days, his head was shaven to
prevent head lice, a serious threat back then. He
mentioned that it was one of the reasons of his later
signature long hair.
During his highschool days in Galatasaray Lisesi he
formed his first band Kafadarlar ("The Buddies"),
allegedly upon seeing Erkin Koray and his band
performing which were all students of a nearby
highschool. Asaf Savaş Akad, a famed economist in Turkey
was the saxophone player of the band and Ender Enön the
guitarist of the band made their own guitar, because it
was difficult to find a real one on the market in those
years .
In 1962 and 1963, with his next band Harmoniler ("The
Harmonies"), he recorded cover versions of some of the
then popular American twist songs, but also
rearrangements of Turkish folk songs in rock and roll
form, marking the beginning of Anatolian rock movement,
a synthesis of Turkish folk music and rock. In this
period, his key visual and musical influence was Elvis
Presley.
After graduating from high school in 1963, he moved to
Europe, travelling around Paris and Liège, where he
formed bands with local musicians and recorded some
singles mainly in English and in French but also in
Turkish. He toured with his band Les Mistigris (not
related with Mistigris) in Germany, Belgium, France and
Turkey until 1967.
In 1967, he suffered from a serious car accident after
which he started to grow his signature mustache to
disguise his scar.
Frustrated by the difficulties of working with musicians
from different nationalities, he formed Kaygısızlar (The
Carefrees) featuring Mazhar Alanson and Fuat Güner,
future members of the very popular Turkish band MFO. He
recorded several singles and toured with the band, both
in Turkey and abroad, until the band members revealed
that they did not want to live abroad.
In 1970, he formed Barış Manço Ve ... ("Barış Manço And
...") again with foreign musicians, to record his first
hit single, both in Turkey and in Belgium, "Dağlar
Dağlar", selling over 700,000 copies. Today, the song
remains one of his most popular works. |
