Artist: Kayhan Kalhor & Erdal
Erzincan
Album: The Wind
Year: 2006
Line-up: Kayhan Kalhor – kamancheh
Erdal Erzincan – baglama
Ulas Özdemir – divan baglama
Label: ECM
Recently,
I had the pleasure and the opportunity to hear and see Kayhan Kalhor
and Erdal Erzincan in concert, where these two internationally
recognised masters of their respective musical cultures and
instruments met. Their performance of was a musical experience of the
utter most beauty and marvel which left the whole audience in a state
of tranquility and awe. Luckily, for those of who do not have the
opportunity to attend their concerts or wish to return to the musical
sphere of Kayhan Kalhor and Erdal Erzincan, the two musicians have
captured the music on an album called The Wind.
Kayhan
Kalhor is an Iranian kamancheh player and composer, master in both
Persian and Kurdish music. He has studied with numerous teachers and
in different parts of Iran learning various traditions of music as
well as studying Western classical music in Rome and Ottawa. Hence,
he has a wide range of musical influences in his playing
incorporation folk modes and melodies of Kurdish and Turkic
traditions to Persian classical musical structures. The main
instrument of Kalhor is the Persian bowed string instrument called
kamancheh which means ”little bow” in Persian. It has four metal
strings and the body consists of a long upper neck and a lower
bowl-shaped resonating chamber.
Though
Erdal Erzincan might not enjoy the same international success as
Kayhan Kalhor, he is still considered one of the most brilliant and
innovative baglama players in today's Anatolia, a raising star in the
music field of Turkey. In recent years, Erzican has started to build
an international career with much praise from the public. He plays
the baglama, sometimes known as the saz, a plucked string instrument
found in Eastern Mediterranean, Near East and Central Asia. It has
three main parts: the bowl, the spruce sounding board and the neck to
which the frets are tied with fishing line, which allows them to be
adjusted. The Turkish baglama has seven strings divided in the
courses of two, two and three and they are played by with tezene,
similar to a guitar pick.
The Wind
was recorded in November 2004, and it consists of one continuous
performance which is divided in to 12 parts on the CD. The music is
built around improvisations based on Persian and Turkish music,
arranged by Kalhor and Erzincan. One might use the term musical
journey, which I feel is becoming somewhat a cliché in this blog,
but that would be a little misleading when describing this album.
More than a grand and spectacular journey The Wind is an intimate
conversation between to private persons, a musical prayer of deeply
emotional and spiritual nature. Often, in the case of cultural
fusion projects such as this, you might hear talk of musical dialogue
and exchange of musical ideas. Here, however, the kamancheh of Kalhor
and the baglama of Erzincan blend into each other so seamlessly that
together they form a new coherent musical whole. Together Kayhan
Kalhor and Erdal Erzincan, with sublime rhythms and rich melodies,
create a transcendental musical realm which leaves the listener with
a deeply relaxed and a calm state.
To me,
The Wind is like a musical poem; it might seem small at first but
with time it reveals to have an entire universe within itself. You
must immerse yourself in it undistracted to truly appreciate it as a
whole, as a sincere piece of creative activity. You have to keep on
getting back to it every once in a while, and when you do, you will
find every time a small detail which you might have missed before; a
nuance, a melodic motif, a rhythmic pattern, a meaningful silence, an
idea behind the music.
written
by Παναγιωτης
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti