Gurko: spinning records at 360°

Gurko is certainly one of the best Dj's of Turkey ever. I had chance to listen to him different times and I always enjoyed the variety of music he's playing.

[N] - Where were you born and when?

[G] - I was in born Germany, Augsbrug in 1987. It’s a small town in Bavaria most known for a marionette theater named Augsburger Puppenkiste and maybe nowerdays for its football team. But it has also very good local beer and a very big forest. Pretty green and cozy place... But I live in Istanbul for a long time now.  

When and how did you start to dj? 

When i was a child, the young people in my neighbourhood used to breakdance, do grafitti and listen to rap music all day. So i grew up with that stuff. I used to do my own mixtapes with an old casette recorder, ripping songs from the radio. Then, when i was 13 me and my friends discovered turntables at the local youth-club. We started to do freestyle session there. My friends were more into rapping, I wanted to play records, so I became the Dj and so on... 

What are the top 5 moments of your dj career?

Wow... Dunno... I’ll go with just one! Is that ok? First gig at the youth club was pretty intense for me. Playing warm up for this older and more popular DJ. Back then, Rnb of the late 90’s and early 00’s was still on. But I didn’t have any of that. Actually, I don’t like that either. Incase I played some rap music a la Mobb Deep, NWA and then a German rap song. That was not normal for the crowd, but after getting irritaded a little, they liked it. Whatever I’ll do, I will never see people dancing to Kool Savas’s “Haus und Boot” song again... 

What do you spin, where and when?

I spin songs I like. Songs wich fit the light in the place I am. Songs that add something to the atmosphere. I spin at all kinds of places. Shitty bars, noble restaurants, club stages, sunset terasses, galery openings, hip cafes, housepartys, whatever... So I’ll play all kinds of shit. At most of my solo gigs, there is no specific concept or genre. I really just play everything. Everything I like and what I think will fit. But this is different with collaborations like Plak Attack or genre based projects like Urban Object tough... 

What are your projects for the future?

We are working on very special gigs with my friend Max from Plak Attack. We always try to devolop our show. We already are confortable with our music selection and turntable skills. So we want to focus more on the show now. Having a nicer stage and doing shows at irritating places like the bazar or the park or maybe have fireworks on stage, who knows... (laughs)

I moved my apartment a little while ago but din’t had the chance to unpack my studio equipment. When the summer is over i want to build my studio again and fosus on some productions too. I used to be a Hip-Hop producer. I want to continue that and also do some electronic or experimental music. Let’s see what happens... 

interviewDj Niogyrk, plak attack, dj, istanbulComment