This week, the above poster advertising Yves Larock ‘Africanism’ was plastered around Mersin. What caught my eye was the fact Yves Larock obviously was not a Turkish act, and, judging by the ‘CH’ on the poster, probably came from Switzerland.

Last night, after some umming and erring, flatmate Levent and I decided to go. The Armada is a new (opened this year) multi-purpose venue located on the coast east of the Hilton Hotel. Earlier in the day, a workmate called The Armada to see if males without female company could enter. A common policy in Turkey for decent nightspots is to bar single or groups of males. In typical Turkish fashion, the answer was ‘maybe’.

The bouncers did accept our 20 YTL and we were allowed in. A decent crowd (500?) was in attendance, and, although not completely full, it made a perfect fit. Following a mix of Turkish and foreign dance music, Yves Larock came on after midnight. With the theme ‘Africanism’ on his posters, I was expecting more tribal music, than the house he played. As a person who has not been to a real disco for a long time, I did not care about semantics. Neither did Levent. We enjoyed grooving on the dancefloor almost continuously for more than 3 hours.

The great light and smoke show complemented the music. Sometimes the machine smoke was so thick the visibility was zero. The tobacco smoke also hung around.

Last night reminded me of my escapades at The Planet nightclub in Adelaide several years ago. The number of people of Mediterranean origin was the same, althought there were no broken glasses underfoot at The Armada, only cigarette butts.

By 2:30 I had tired and was ready to leave, although Levent, with the combination of raki and beer in his veins, wanted to keep going.

After 3 am we left and walked into town to Haci Baba Restaurant. I ate kelle-paca corbasi (sheep’s head and feet soup) whilst Levent settled for mercimek corbasi (lentil soup).

After a great night, at 4:45 am I collapsed asleep in bed.

Reading Yves Larock’s website this morning, I see that the Mersin gig was his only performance in Turkey. He came to Turkey just to perform in Mersin!!!! He must have a Mersin girlfriend, know The Armada owner or something…

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