WONDERLAND - Göçmenler

Confusion is good sometimes. It’s a way to start thinking about whatever you are confused about. This is what Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions do since 2008. They managed to fire the stages all across the world: from New York to Istanbul, from Paris to Sao Paolo, from London to Skopje... Questions they spread all these years where like: are they really turkish? is this really jazz? doesn’t it sound like a rock band? how come a jazz ensemble can really be like a band? How can they be so able to jam with any musician they meet on stage? And so on...
It’s a simple fact Ilhan Ersahin, being one of the rare moguls of New York City underground scene via his club and record label (nublu), is traveling all around the world. It’s possible to see him jamming with Red Hot Chili Peppers in Sao Paolo, featuring Bugge Wesseltoft in Blue Note Tokyo and/or playing a beautiful oriental set with turkish gypsies in an elegant concert hall somewhere in Europe. His newyorker energy is with him all the time.
How about Istanbul Sessions then? It’s a summary of all you read above. Master level musicianship meets a high eclecticism where the cliché of “east-to-west crossover” finds its true sense and power.
A session is a meeting of a deliberative body to conduct its business. In this case, the business is music, and the music is another heavyweight long player from Ilhan Ersahin & crew.
Upon listening to the record for the first time, one word overrides every other emotion and devours the mind: Cinema.
More specifically, “cinematic.” Ersahin’s sax sounds like it was recorded in the fucking Alps. Or in the sweeping sand dunes and Oasis’s of the Middle East. It’s just that W I D E. On “Falling,” Ersahin’s sax is practically 3-dimensional. Double tracked and bathed in a healthy dose of reverb, the saxophone and rhythm of the band evoke a story-like narrative. From the mad-man trills strewn throughout the track, to the soaring, almost stadium anthem chorus. Clearly, it’s all about the (s)axe, and Ilhan Ersahin is YOUR axeman.
History has a tendency to repeat itself, and for the third time ‘round, East meets West once again. And the results are more satisfying than that mammoth inter-racial orgy you’re always fantasizing of. Through Ersahin’s playing, you can hear the ghostly echoes of dead, pre-war jazz greats behind his frenzy-inducing saxophone playing. You can also hear the Siren’s call, the brooding beauty of the shrouded mystery that is the Desert. Devilishly hot and bothered, the dry night air caresses your face, stirring a primal urge that excites as you step out into the glow of the Turkish metropolis. An Istanbul session, awaits.

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Ilhan Ersahin - tenor saxophone 
Alp Ersönmez - bass
Turgut Alp Bekoglu - drums 
Izzet Kizil - percussion
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“highly distinctive new sound that connects the dense modal funk of Miles Davis' Agartha group with middle-eastern melodies and spikes it with a potent shot of dub electronics.”
Jon Newey, JAZZWISE
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"If Radiohead was playing jazz, they would sound like this" -
Erik Truffaz
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“★ ★ ★ ★” - Mondomix
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"Hear this! Jazz has changed form" - Le Monde
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LINKS:
• http://ilhanersahin.net/istanbul-sessions/ 
• facebook.com/istanbulsessions
• soundcloud.com/ilhanersahin
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MANAGEMENT: Reha Öztunalı +90 537 437 54 32

08 Studio 54

02 Sariyer

01 Falling

07 Sex, Drugs, And Jazz

11 Tarzanca

Rodeo from la casse

La Mar Enfortuna - Aman Minush

gevende - esinti

Taken from the album 'XX'
Available on: 2xCD / 2xLP+CD+DL
Release Date: January 27th, 2017
www.glitterbeat.com

A kaleidoscopic, two-disc, career-spanning compilation from Istanbul’s revered psychedelic explorers. Esteemed collaborators include Sly & Robbie, Mad Professor, Dr. Das of Asian Dub Foundation, Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten) and more. Without a doubt one of the planet’s great musical adventures.

All too often these days, the world can feel like a dark and dangerous place. But music remains a light in the bleakness, offering a constant sense hope and joy and celebration. In Turkey the ominous shadows have been growing longer for several years but Baba Zula have been a shining beacon for 20 years, bringing the West and the Orient together in a glory of Istanbul psychedelia. To celebrate those two decades of existence, XX brings together tracks from across Baba Zula’s history, along with a second album of dubs created by artists like Mad Professor. Dr. Das of Asian Dub Foundation, and Dirtmusic.

“We wanted to have a compilation that was a little different,” explains group founder and electric saz player Osman Murat Ertel. “None of the pieces here are in their original forms. Instead, we picked remixes, re-recordings, collaborations, live tracks, all the possibilities, but none of these have been released before. And it’s a mix of recording techniques – digital, analogue, tape, mp3.”

Formed by Ertel and Levent Akman in 1996, Baba Zula took Turkish psychedelic pioneers of the 1960s like Moğollar as their inspiration and foundation for what they called Istanbul psychedelia, the fathers of a scene that’s since grown up around them.

Since then Baba Zula have played all over the world, won awards for their work in film and theatre, often been rewarded at the Turkish Billboard awards, and had their albums counted among the most prestigious ever released in Turkey. They’ve also built a global network of like-minded performers, experimental souls in all genres of music, working with people as varied as Turkish opera singer Semiha Berksoy, dub mixer Mad Professor, and Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit. And that, to Ertel, is one of the band’s great successes.

“It’s exciting to collaborate with people you listened to when you were young. It’s a great inspiration and a huge fulfilment in dreaming something and having it come true. And it becomes a link of friendship.”

And now, with 20 years behind them, what’s next for Baba Zula?
“I never thought it would last this long,” Ertel admits. “Maybe another 20 years is possible, maybe not. But living here in Turkey, I don’t know about the future. I hope the band could continue without me. We give our messages very carefully for those who can understand them. But I do know it’s important to carry on; you can be gone anytime.”

Aşıkların Sözü Kalır (Eternal Is The Word of Poets)

Baba Zula - Asiklarin Sözü Kalir (Eternal Is The Word of Poets)

music: 123
lyrics: dilara sakpinar
recorded by can aykal at the stone house in bodrum, turkey
mixed by kai andersen at athletic sound, halden, norway
mastered by bjorn engelmann at cutting room, stockholm, sweden.

arto tunçboyacıyan: vocals, percussion
dilara sakpınar: vocals
burak ırmak: rhodes, synth
feryin kaya: bass guitar, acoustic guitar
berke can özcan: drums

kapalı perdeler arkasında
saklanır gölgeler
takip ederler, her şeyi

karanlık sokaklarda
yol alır insanlar
gider gider giderler

uzun sürer yolculuk
geçer zaman, doğar bebek
açar gözlerini yeni bir dünyaya

farklıdır onun yüzü
anlatır hep gözü
heycanlıdır, keşfeder
yaşar, görür, öğrenir

varoldukça büyür
güzel bir gül olur, açar

sonra bir gün gelir
bilir, korkmadan
kapar gözlerini

trip feat. arto tuncboyaciyan

Istanbul Sessions is a unit consisting of 4 versatile musicians -- Ilhan Ersahin, Alp Ersonmez, Turgut Bekoglu and Izzet Kizil. Ilhan was born and raised in Sweden, his motherland, and since a long time now has been living in NYC where he founded Nublu, the club and record label. Having a Turkish father and always having strong ties to Istanbul and Turkey as a whole, Istanbul Sessions was conceived as a very organic project. The concept of the band is a combination of Ilhan's NYC/Nublu sound mixed with the sounds and spirits of young Istanbul. It’s a band that mixes Turkish scales, clubby beats and jazz improvisations. Their live sets are usually an experience in sounds, moods, and almost trance like vibes, all played live, almost as if they are dj's keeping the audience alert with beats, colors and songs weaving in and out until their set ends 1, 2 or 3 hours later. Alp is the bassplayer of Turkey's popstar Tarkan. Turgut is the drummer of Turkey's one and only diva Sezen Aksu and Izzet is a sought after percussionist heard on hundreds of Turkish released records already performed with very international names such as Bebel Gilberto, Natasha Atlas etc.– all very active in the Istanbul music scene. Ilhan, saxophonist/keyboards/composer is the founder of Nublu in NYC and the newly started Nublu Records. Ilhan has composed for Norah Jones, Bebel Gilberto, U-Roy and his other bands include Wax Poetic, Love Trio, I led 3 lives and Nublu Orchestra. A great way to hear fresh and new sounds from Istanbul with a different angle then is usually expected, here it is: Istanbul Sessions.

01 Falling

Ilhan Ersahin

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