Jeff Shucard:
“In the year 2000, I arrived in Istanbul with the intention of teaching English at a language school in the Kadıköy district. I was recovering from a life threatening illness that prevented me from touring with British band leader – legendary trombonist Chris Barber. Though I had a guitar with me, I knew absolutely nothing about the Istanbul music scene and due to my health issues, I was not interested in performing at all.

Then, one day in a local music store I met a university student who played electric guitar named Berk Sirman; who befriended me and took it upon himself to book me into a few clubs. One of those clubs was called Shaft and it was there that I met Sarp Keskiner, who enthusiastically welcomed me into the vibrant blues scene in which his band Moe Joe performed.

Sarp, as I discovered, was an avid student of blues history as well as a fine musician and producer. His ideas were far reaching and yet always in the pocket of the various genres of music he performed. Perhaps he alone in Turkey knew the music of Charley Patton, John Hurt and my favorite, Blind Blake. And so it happened that due to Sarp’s generosity of spirit and interest in acoustic country blues that we began working together.

Listening now to these tracks recorded 15 years ago, I’m taken by the raw energy we collectively produced. Back then, many clubs that we performed at with a busy schedule had little in the way of sound equipment. As I clearly remember, around the mid-2000’s there were even some nights where we spent more time doing the sound check than playing. Although draining, some of the accumulated energy of the band; the primitive but vital energy of the venues suited us fine as somehow we ended up sounding like early Chess recordings at the end of the day! Thus, I often felt as though we were musical astronauts playing a style of music no one Turkey had ever heard before.

Here, Sarp continues the narrative:
“Once the Turkish core of SPL line-up was set; with the support of my never ending energy on finding a new venue to play our music and following an eclectic approach to build up circular line-ups as booking who is available to gig with the band from the local scene; Sweet Papa Lowdown succeeded

to tour in Turkey not for once but for three times as in 2000, 2004, 2006 while regularly holding gigs in the most respected clubs in Istanbul. Eylul (September) Music Club was one of the hot spots of the then lively blues scene, as all along the decade of 2000; each club in Istanbul had their own audience with specific musical tastes.”

“Going back to the subject of circular but irregular touring schedule of SPL, the band found many chances to visit cities namely as Izmir, Izmit, Adana, Mersin, Antakya, Ankara, Mugla and Antalya while the line-ups that are mostly comprised of multi-instrumentalist national blues celebrities were also and intentionally enhanced by addition of well-respected names from Canada / USA such as Doug Rhodes, Rick Van Krugel, Blaine Dunaway, Dan Smith, Dan Marcus and Kris Bowerman. Regarding a vast audio archive that feature those aforementioned names that brought their own stance of blues to the band, SPL found a chance to create a unique mélange of blues, ragtime and gospel music in a swinging period of six years while establishing a common ground that gave the opportunity of a mutual exchange between local and international blues experts.”

Thus, this audio-doc is launched as just starting point and I hope other live albums of SPL shall create a series. Looking back on it; those were good days… My respect for the music that is produced by various line-ups of the band in Istanbul continued to grow in the next decades and now, I feel grateful to have been a part of that scene. (Jeff Shucard, Figueira da Foz, Portugal, 2024)