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

Büzürk Saz Semai

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

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

Levent Yilidirim - Le Sourire De Çiǧdem

As a great admirer of Wannes Van de Velde, the man who wove rebetiko and flamenco into Flemish folk singing, Tristan Driessens mixes a variety of eastern influences in the world of Western European folk music. Long before the Belgian oud player would be introduced in the secrets of classical Ottoman music, he was widely known as a talented folk dancer. Together with hardanger violinist Wim Baeck, he formed the core of Balacordes, a band which expressed their mutual passion for Swedisch polska, Irish jig and other folk traditions. In his recent recordings, mainly Tristan’s inspiration from the Turkish masters resonated, whereas with A Folk Dancer’s Journey he returns to his first passion: A French circle dance mixes with a dazzling lezginka from Azerbeidzjan (Caucasian Eagle dance), a mazurka goes over in an irregular rhythmical pattern on the heavenly sounds of the Turkish kemençe (Alethea’s First Song) and tin-whistle tones float on the gnawa grooves of a Jewish Moroccan song (Mandragora’s Jig). This album presents an almost perfect synthesis of the musical routes Driessens has been exploring over the past years, as it features an impressive cast of musicians with whom he has been collaborating: the Turkish kemençe master Derva Türkan (Lâmekân Ensemble), French hurdy gurdy virtuoso Gregory Jolivet, Bulgarian tapan player Niki Aleksandrov (Karsilama Quintet), Armenian duduk player Vardan Hovanissian, Belgian Woodwind Wizard Tom Callens (Soolmaan, La Compagnie d’Elias), Belgian early music expert Jowan Merckx (AmorromA) and many others. A Folk Dancer’s Journey paints the picture of a restless nomad who, accompanied by his faithful lute, has reached a crucial stage on his way between East and West.

Tristan Driessens - Mandragora's Jig

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.

Büzürk Saz Semai

SeyirMuzik

Related tracks