In the 1970s, some of Turkey’s biggest music stars combined the traditional melodies of folk music with psychedelic rock to make a sound entirely their own, said Daniel Spicer, the author of a history of Turkish psychedelic music, in a telephone interview.

The decade was a turbulent time in the country, with left- and right-wing groups facing off in frequent street battles in Istanbul. “Some musicians took a stance to align themselves with the common people,” Spicer said, “and as part of that they wanted to speak to them in the most direct way possible. So they took rock ’n’ roll and made it into this hybrid, by infusing it with traditional instruments and time signatures.”

The left-wing views of those artists did not endear them to the authorities and their music almost completely disappeared from Turkish airwaves after a military coup in 1980, Spicer added. More than half a million people were arrested during the coup, according to human rights groups.

Cem Kayiran, music editor of Bant Mag, a youth magazine based in Istanbul, said bands had started playing that music again only since the late-1990s. “There are many bands coming up now, trying to replicate this psychedelic sound,” he said. “Some of them, you can tell they’re not the real thing. It feels like a touristic trip to the Grand Bazaar.”

But Akyol “is totally different to that,” he added. “She’s not just hype.”

Akyol’s growing profile is not restricted to Turkey. British radio shows, such as Iggy Pop’s on BBC 6 Music, have played songs from her latest album, “Istikrarli Hayal Hakikattir” (“Consistent Fantasy Is Reality”), and on Nov. 30, Songlines, a London-based magazine about global music, named Akyol “best artist” at its annual awards.