Di dai, di dai dai - MFO

Mazhar Alanson, Fuat Güner and Özkan Uğur represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest back when Turkey was still participating in the annual event. Their first of two attempts at eternal fame on the Eurovision stage took place in 1985 with the song 'Di dai, di dai dai'. The song title is sometimes written with the phrase 'Aşık oldum', which means 'I fell in love'.

The single was released in the Netherlands by Dureco Benelux, although I don't recall this to ever appear in any record shop I visited back then. These days the single has become quite a collectors item, fetching around 40 euros for a decent copy online. Which explains that I was rather pleased to get this for less.

My collection: 7" single no. 6208
Found: Record fair, Utrecht, November 17, 2019
Cost: 15 euro
Tracks: 'Di dai, di dai dai' / 'Di dai, di dai dai (Aşık oldum) (Turkish version)'

Sufi - MFO

Mazhar Alanson, Fuat Güner and Özkan Ugur formed MFO in 1984. They represented their homeland Turkey twice during the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1985, they competed with the song 'Didai didai dai', which finished in fourteenth place. They competed again in 1988 with the uplifting song 'Sufi', which finished in fifteenth place. They are still active as a band today, having released more than a dozen albums.

'Sufi' was released as a 12" single in Germany. It featured studio recordings of the original Turkish version of 'Sufi' plus an English translation of the song. The 'long version' is basically a combination of the two with added instrumental breaks.

My collection: 12" single no. 109
Found: Plaatboef, Rotterdam, 1990
Cost: 5 guilders
Tracks: 'Sufi (Long version)' / 'Sufi (Original version)', 'Sufi (English version)'