The memory of Rûmî’s moment of spiritual and religious joys, whom, at the hearing of any harmonious sound or any words evoking awareness of the Divine presence, transformed his emotions in whirling movements, is the basis for a ritual created in the fourteenth century during which individual ecstasy is strictly bound, framed and codified by ceremonial gestures.
Amazed contemplating these moves and hypnotised by the aesthetic beauty of this ritual whirling “dance”, the first European travellers attributed to tarîqa Mevlevî the name of whirling dervishes.
As the brotherhoods developed in the entire Muslim world, their artistic expressions naturally became associated with the traditions in the countries in which they established. Thus, the Mevlevîs’ musical tradition played an important role for Ottoman classical music.
In the vast majority of Sufi brotherhoods, music is only vocal, accompanied with drums. Mevlevîs’ ceremonies, on the contrary, introduce the use of musical instruments within their rituals.
Rûmî’s poems include many allusions to his taste in music, notably the ney (a reed flute), the rebab (a small kind of viol) and the ‘ûd (luth). The Masnavi, Rûmî’s main work, starts with eighteen two-verse couplets, to which close to twenty-five thousand others are added. It opens with these verses:

Listen to the lament of the Ney
It tells a story of the separation

02 - Makam Bayati

01 - Makam Rast - Pençgah

Masters of Classical Turkish Music presents a series of high quality recordings headlining 21st Century masters of Ottoman music. The 5 CD box set Inci – The Pearl introduces a six piece ensemble directed by Sadreddin Özçimi and Necati Çelik, two of the present-day doyens of Ottoman music. Born in Konya, capital of Mevlevi Sufism, both outstanding musical legends are considered to be directly related to the current blossoming of classical Turkish music. Today, they are the oldest descendants of a lineage of grand masters initiated by the late Necdet Yaşar and living legend Niyazi Sahin, who insured the perpetuation of the Ottoman music legacy throughout the second half of the 20th Century, 

Sadreddin Özçimi : ney, Yavuz Akalın : ney, Necati Çelik : ‘ûd, Tristan Driessens : ‘ûd, Levent Yıldırım : bendir, Robbe Kieckens : bendir, kudüm.

INCI(V~3.MP3

INCI(V~2.MP3

Sultâniyegâh Müşterek Taksimi

Sabâ Taksim

Sultânî - Yegâh Taksim

Evcârâ Taksim

Kashgul

Sacred Lives

The Soolmaan Ensemble unites eclectic musical references in a timeless as well as contemporary expression. Influences from Eastern and Western classical music traditions and contemporary modal music fuse into highly versatile and inspirational sounds where improvisation is the connecting factor. A mystical element derived from several traditions shines through their music.

Tristan Driessens: oud, composition,
Christos Barbas: ney, piano, lavta, vocals,
Nathan Daems : tenor saxophone, ney, kaval,
Annemie Osborne: cello,
Andrea Piccioni: tamburello, bendir, riqq,
Levent Yildirim: percussion set up, bendir, doholla.

05 DOST

6 TAMBURELLO SOLO

4 NOZUL

3 MERA MEROSE

2 SACRED LIVES

1 NOUR

Derya Türkan has been the world’s most influential Istanbul kemençesi performer for almost three decades now. He has performed world wide and recorded as a leader or in collaboration with prominent international musicians in a variety of musical styles, from classical to contemporary improvisation. With Istanbul Kemençesi vol. II, Derya Türkan presents his second album highlighting the classical music of his hometown Istanbul. He is accompanied by Belgian percussionist Robbe Kieckens on tombak and bendir.

Istanbul Kemençesi vol.II

Eviç Buselik Taksim

Büzürk Saz Semai

Büzürk Peşrev

Büzürk Taksim

Unity
In the midst of silence, the kamancheh whispers. 
Its song resembles the wind: a travel-wind that links Iranian childhood and the end of an airplane, the end 
of an airplane and the age of reason, the future that is already being told in the present tense and that will 
pass as quickly as a song. It is a calm wind that carries centuries of music: Persian melodies - classical, 
traditional, modern - European classical music - from Gregorian monodies to Baroque string pieces. In one 
sound, a thousand stories. 
Similar to the world, the kamancheh‘s voice is one and many; it contains the diversity of places and times, 
human dissonances, dispersions, splinters. Thread, it seeks and gathers fragments of the self.
Mostafa Taleb is an Uprooted whose tireless rhizome, to whom land was denied, has planted itself in the 
rain, drawing water from stones and light from words. On the flower of imbalance, he constantly rebalances 
himself. He is a passionate creator, a receptor without limits who, during the time of an album, absorbs his 
own heartbreak and that of the world. 
Unity is an improvised meditation in nine breaths, an alliance between flesh and wood. All in poetry.
Camille Bordet

3 Spectral Reverie

2 Ascendance

1 Cryptic Echoes

Hidden songs of Anatolia is the first album of Pinhan Trio. The repertoire consists of ten pieces, songs and instrumentals from various regions of Anatolia and the Caucasus, which are either widely unknown even in Turkey or, at least, didn’t receive the attention that they should have. Nilgün Aksoy was born and raised in Istanbul. She came to the Netherlands at the age of seventeen with her family. Listening to all varieties of Turkish music since she can remember, it was the voices of the old masters of regional music traditions that moved and influenced her most – so deeply that she decided to study Turkish music. The German brothers, Malte and Benjamin Stueck discovered traditional Turkish and Kurdish music coincidentally in some festivities of the early 90s and were deeply moved by its beauty and emotion. Since 2008, the three of them live in Hamburg and founded a school for Anatolian music to transmit the beautiful tradition of this music.

Pinhan Trio : Malte Stueck (saz), Benjamin Stueck (saz), Nilgün Aksoy(vocals).

Süreyya
lyrics/music: traditional
region: Iranian part of Azerbaijan 
source: Hacı Ali Hancı, Hulusi Seven 
collected by: Osman Özdenkçi

Pinhan Trio - Süreyya

Emre Gültekin, singer and player of the Turkish saz (a long-necked lute) unites  the sounds of his instrument with the voice and percussion of the Indian duo BrahmaKhyapa. Malabika Brahma (vocals) and Sanjoy Khyapa (dubki, dotara) originate from India and have become the musical ambassadors of Baul culture. The Bauls, a marginal Indian community from Bengal, are nomadic and are deeply spiritual, seeking the sacred in human beings rather than in heaven.

The Bauls share a similar way of life with the Alevites of Turquie, for whom Emre Gültekin, as a modern troubadour, has made himself the spokesman. In uniting these two cultures and their musical traditions, Baul Meets Saz create a strangely modern music, at one and the same time powerful and mystical. 

Malabika Brahma (vocals), Emre Gültekin (saz). 
Guests : Levent Yildirim (doholla), Vardan Hovanissian (duduk)

Baul Meets Saz - Hridoy

Emre Gültekin, singer and player of the Turkish saz (a long-necked lute) unites  the sounds of his instrument with the voice and percussion of the Indian duo BrahmaKhyapa. Malabika Brahma (vocals) and Sanjoy Khyapa (dubki, dotara) originate from India and have become the musical ambassadors of Baul culture. The Bauls, a marginal Indian community from Bengal, are nomadic and are deeply spiritual, seeking the sacred in human beings rather than in heaven.

The Bauls share a similar way of life with the Alevites of Turquie, for whom Emre Gültekin, as a modern troubadour, has made himself the spokesman. In uniting these two cultures and their musical traditions, Baul Meets Saz create a strangely modern music, at one and the same time powerful and mystical. 

Chant : Malabika Brahma - Kaval : Nathan Daems - Dubki : Sanjoy Bhattacherjee - Saz : Emre Gültekin

Baul Meets Saz - Namaz

Ruben Tenenbaum : violon - Emre Gültekin : Saz - Malabika Brahma : Chant - Sanjoy Bhattacherjee : dubki

Baul Meets Saz - Allaki Ali

The Seyir Trio reunites musicians who share a passionate mastership of Ottoman music. Each of them had a long and rigorous training allowing them to meet many different people, masters and countries. For almost a decade now, Tristan Driessens, Simon Leleux and Ruben Tenenbaum are solid companions in many a musical project, sometimes related to Turkish music, sometimes not. When Seyir was created, it was originally meant to be a smaller instrumental formula of the Lâmekân Ensemble. But the trio’s identity was soon revealed thanks to the strong human and musical affinities that they share on stage. Displaying their understanding of music and esthetics with a very new approach, they express both freedom and deep respect towards the music they were transmitted to. Every instrument – violin, oud and percussion – is played with solistic flair, enhancing both rhythm and melody. With unbridled surrender, a touch of humor and a great deal of virtuosity, the Seyir Trio tells us a rather remarkable story. One of three restless companions who have found their way through the labyrinths of a foreign musical idiom.

Tristan Driessens ('ûd)
Ruben Tenenbaum (violin)
Simon Leleux (doholla)

Seyir Trio - Solo Doholla

Seyir Trio - Son Pesrev Ve Son Yuruk Semai

Seyir Trio - Ferahfeza Saz Semaisi

Levent Yıldırım is considered one of the modern pioneers of Middle Eastern percussion. Levent and his older brother Ahmet Misirli are the starters of a musical revolution that opened a new path for future generations of percussionists : they have brought a lesser-known instrument – the Egyptian doholla – into the limelight, and elevated it to the ranks of instruments able to claim a virtuosic solo repertoire.

The result is an infinite variety of sounds coming one after another in total spontaneity. Humility, fluidity and sincerity characterize the music of Levent, mostly improvised, which boldly synthesises the artist’s various influences from the Arab, Turkish, Indian and Western worlds. His third album, Doholla Tarang, invites you to immerse yourself in the intimate charm of Levent Yıldırım.

Levent Yildirim : percussion
Emre Gültekin : saz
Vardan Hovanissian : doudouk

Levent Yildirim - Mat Hil Da

Kudsi Erguner - Le Rossignol Solitaire

Derya Türkan and Sokratis Sinopoulos have been the most influential Istanbul kemençesi or Politiki lyra performers for almost three decades now. Together, they have recorded two albums as part of their Letter from Istanbul project and individually, they have performed significant concerts and recordings as leaders or in collaboration with prominent international musicians in a variety of musical styles from classical to contemporary improvisation.

They share a longtime friendship which started when they met in their late teens and they have since become pioneers in collaborations between Greek and Turkish musicians exploring the common ground between these two cultures.

01 - Istanbul - Nihavend Pesrevi

Seyir Muzik label was born thanks to the encounter of musicians, musicologists, sound engineers and instrument makers, gathered by the drive to share their passion for music.

Travel, path, route… The word seyir evokes theses ideas, whereas calling a feeling of magic. In music, seyir is the itinerary followed by the melody inside a given scale. The layout of the notes, its seyir, defines the makam one is part of. To free ourselves from the codes, we interest ourselves in the melody windings.

Seyir Muzik is a research center on Turkish and Mediterranean music based in Brussels. It already proposes many activities, among which the music academy : weekly music lessons, listening moments, seminars, conferences are being held the whole year in premises at Rue du Bailli.

The musical agitation raised by these events leads us to go further in the knowledge of musics we love. During many projects we realized, we collaborated with great classical, popular and traditional musicians. We think it is essential to make them easier to reach for the audience. Therefore we gave birth to a musical label, that will allow us to broadcast excellent quality recordings that resulted from these encounters.

Seyir Muzik invites the audience to improve their quality of listening by proposing projects whose selection will be based on musical value.

A hearing committee whose members are sensitized by their profession and the experiences they have gathered each in their field. The quality of the artists we want to gather, our care in the selection of the repertoire presented and our conscientious work of the sound in the recordings are the thread of our label.

Resolutely oriented towards the East, on the outskirts of the Mediterranean sea, our label will also open to other traditions by the collaborations that have been created over time, while remaining in an acoustic spirit, respect for ancestral heritages still alive today. The albums we produce will be broadcast both physically and digitally throughout the world, in order to optimize their reception.

SeyirMuzik

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