Turkish composer, arranger, guitar player and producer Mustafa Özkent was a lesser-known but significant figure on the Ankara music scene until his music belatedly found a receptive audience in the West more than four decades into his career. Özkent launched his career as a professional musician in Radio Ankara.A talented guitarist who was known to modify the design of his instruments to create unusual tonal qualities, Özkent earned a reputation as a gifted maverick and by the dawn of the 1970s was in Istanbul demand as a session player, arranger, and producer, creating music that fused psychedelic and pop/rock influences with R&B grooves and jazz-influenced improvisations. In 1973, Özkent partnered with Evren Records, a Turkish label known for its high production standards and audiophile recording techniques; Özkent booked time at one of Istanbul's finest recording facilities, and with a hand-picked team of musicians he began recording new material dominated by funky vamps, extended percussion jams, hard-grooving organ lines, and wah-wah guitars. The resultant LP, Gençlik ile Elele (Hand in Hand with Youth), sounded as if it were designed for hip-hop DJs in search of funky breaks, even though it was cut years before the nascent South Bronx scene began to flower (not to mention half a world away).