music

Turkish music for dancers

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Gypsies of Turkey with Ahmet Kusgoz Ve Arkadaslari

Karsilema until you drop! This album is chock full of 9/8 rhythms played at different tempos (mostly fast), alternating with ciftitelli and other regional instrumentals. I regularly recommend this energetic and passionate album for dancers who want “real Turkish Rom” music, as it is readily available from online vendors in mp3 or album format.

 

 

Istanbul Oriental Ensemble

I love the amazing theme albums created by these virtuoso Turkish musicians, and they can be purchased or downloaded online from several websites.  My two favourite albums are their latest, Grand Bazaar (pictured here) and Sultan’s Secret Door. Gipsy Rum also has some wonderful tracks, but I’m ambivalent about Caravanserai (which offers Turkish interpretations of Egyptian and other Middle Eastern music).  There’s a Wikipedia article about the Ensemble’s leader, Burhan Öçal – and if you’ll enjoy innovative music blending electronics, jazz, and Turkish traditions, try his album with the Trakya All-Stars!

 

 

Any album by Mustafa Kandirali

Kandirali is a legendary Turkish Rom clarinetist, and I find it impossible not to be swept away by any of his taksim pieces. I’ve  just ordered his latest CD, with remastered tracks to celebrate his 75th birthday. Here’s an excerpt from the rootsworld.com website:

Kandirali’s Gypsy background lends him an immediate global outlook, and his undeniable skill on the instrument gives him the tool he needs to execute it. But he is not limited to any one genre. He has clearly absorbed a lifetime of jazz, Turkish and western popular music as well as the myriad styles of traditional folk music of Turkey, and he has developed an improvisational bent that is on par with any of the great American jazz men, with flourishes and attacks that would rival Miles Davis’ or John Coltrane’s adventures in sonic experimentation…Which is not to say he mimics any of his influences. The end result of this international background is a decidedly unique Turkish music, whether it is a traditional taksim, a çiftetelli (belly dance), a Gypsy song or a soaring original composition/improvisation.

How to make your husband a Sultan  This quote from cdroots.com says it well:  Yes, in spite of the horrendous cover and the dreadful title, herein lies some of the real deal, brilliantly performed ‘belly-dance’ music from the 1960s featuring some of the era’s most respected performers including Mustafa Kandirali, clarinet, and Ahmet Yatman, kanun. In the guise of that swing-era staple, the art of domestic seduction, and produced by and featuring the famous Turkish dancer Özel Türkbas (first brought to America to dance by Italian movie director Franco Zeferelli), this album originally sold 150,000 copies in the US (and a million in Turkey), spawning the craze for bellydance and Turkish music that continues today. If this had been released by anyone other than Traditional Crossroads, I would have ignored it.

 

 

Check out the Traditional Crossroads website for a wide selection of Turkish music, including more dance music for Özel Türkbas, Rom music by Selim Sesler, Kandirali and others, and extensive listings of contemporary and re-mastered historical recordings from Turkey and elsewhere.

Karsilama

This lively album features Selim Sesler (clarinet) and vocalist Brenda MacCrimmon, who originally hails from Toronto!  The extensive liner notes provide an informative introduction to Karsilama and other Turkish music in 9/8 rhythm.  The songs and instrumental tracks are diverse and very dance-able!

 

Arab music understanding

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Egyptian music appreciation and practice for bellydancers

by George Dimitri Sawa

A must-have for dancers, teachers, and students who wish to develop their understanding of Egyptian music!   The quality of the package is awesome – exceeding my already high expectations of  creator George Sawa, an Egyptian born historian, musicologist, qanun virtuoso, a true master of Arabic Music. He has taught generations of dancers and musicians, and we are so lucky that this gracious gentleman is sharing his knowledge in this new format.

(package includes a comprehensive 4-chapter manual: 2 CDs, 65 tracks, 21 rhythms and cymbal patterns; 8 maqams; photographs and description of 32 musical instruments; 6 musical forms.)

Order this and other CD’s direct from George Sawa’s website.

Arab & Turkish music for listeners

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Minor Empire – Second Nature

Great music for listening and dancing – this new album of  Turkish / world music  is made in Toronto!  I couldn’t stop dancing during the Minor Empire set at the Islands Folk Festival last summer, where the whole crowd was mesmerized by Ozgu’s truly enchanging vocals.  Guitarist/composer Ozan describes their style not as a fusion of Turkish and Western music, but the result of both a collision and confluence of these disparate elements. “I see them as coexisting together while keeping their original shapes,” he explains. “We definitely kept the original vocal melodies while fitting them into modern song forms we composed.”  Minor Empire has already been named World Group of the Year at 2011 Canadian Folk Music Award, and I hope to hear more albums in the near future!

“Second Nature is more than just an interesting record, it marks an important way forward for Turkish and world music, in general…” (Errol Nazareth, CBC Radio and Toronto Sun music columnist.)

Souad Massi

I love every album featuring Souad Massi,  “a leading light among young Algerian artists”.  Her fine voice, activism,  and courage have brought her into the limelight.  A singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Souad creates  delicate Algerian folk rock with sensitive lyrics. She comes from a family of performers, and was born in Algiers in 1972. Her elder brother is a composer, her younger brother a musician and her little sister is a dancer. I find myself deeply touched by her songs, whether she singing in Arabic or French (she very occasionally sings in English or Kabyle [Berber]).

 

If Souad Massi didn’t exist, surely the world-music community would have had to invent her. A doe-eyed, twentysomething Algerian singer/songwriter with a carillon-like voice and fine line in heartfelt, political songs, her debut album Raoui (The Storyteller) has seen her compared with artists such as Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell and – despite singing only in Arabic and French – hailed as a major star in the making. (Jane Cornwell, London Evening Standard, 22 April 2002)