They owed their success largely to their appeal to middle-aged Turkish music listeners. Their songs brought together the love ballads of early 20th century, which were popular with that age group, and a sophisticated grasp of the world culture. By marrying the tango rhythms that had been popular in Turkish classical music in the 1930s with chords from traditional Turkish instruments like ud, and the operatic voice of Esen Noyan with the classical lyrics of Muhlis Sabahaddin Ezgi, they managed to come across both fresh and authentic.