A review of

KARSILAMA-KARSILAMA-Green Goat 001

First, and most importantly, this is no collection of languid taksims. This is great dance music and kicks in a major way. But aside from this it's not easy to describe what this music is. All the instrumentalists on the CD are Turkish Rom, so if you've entered this music having experienced the recent CDs by Sulukule [Traditional Crossroads] or Mustapha Kandirali [World Network], you won't be disappointed. However, even though all the music relates to Turkish traditions, many of the tunes are not strictly Anatolian Turkish. Included are a Greek tune incorporating portions of a set of tunes I know as "Mandili Kalamatianos," as well as an Arabic-flavored bellydance track, a song with Albanian lyrics, and several other songs which can be traced to the Balkans. Yet, all the tracks relate to Turkey, its folk heritage, its minorities, and its history of influence and the liner notes help to relate each song to its cultural area. In addition, the exotic maqamat-- the many non-modal scales which characterize Turkish music and often include quarter-tones (which fall between the tones of the tempered Western chromatic scale), find diverse representation here.

The lead instrument is the clarinet and Selim Sesler is a delight; his playing is rhythmically adept, incorporating crisp notes and delightful lowering and raising of tones (characteristic of this and other "oriental" styles) as well as intriguing shifts of timbre. He even provides great egoless accompaniment for the solos of others! No cuteness here, (like too many endings of songs by the fantastic Ferus Mustafov on his recent Globestyle recording) just incredible virtuosity. Fahrettin Demircioglu plays an unusual instrument called the cumbus, a fretless banjo in the oud family, and provides both solos (listen to the second track) as well as rhythmic support; he also plays oud on one track. A stealth violin is also present: you can hear Demir Karabas' instrument underlying many sections with an effective drone, especially in combination with the cumbus; but he is given very few solos (the most obvious is on track 9). There are two percussionists: Selhattin Kocan handles the great drum called davul; Salih Onur handles the smaller drums, including the darabuka that Westerners know as "dumbek." The percussion is expertly handled and recorded: Many contemporary recordings of similar music seem to put the percussion too far in the background, resulting in a kind of "popcorn" effect. But from their grand entrance in the first track, the drums are effective throughout, whether providing a rhythmic backdrop or (more often) an exciting, driving, rolling beat, yielding the energy fields that the clarinet lines pierce and twist through. Instrumentally the textures of the CD are rich, rhythmic, and sufficiently varied throughout, and well worth multiple listens for anyone interested in the musics of the Balkans, the Middle East, or Rom music.

I've waited until last to mention the vocalist, Canadian singer and folklorist, who appears on just over half the selections. Brenna MacCrimmon's voice was previously featured on Mercan Dede's Sufi Dreams and in a collaborative work of primarily Macedonian songs, Balkan Journeys Close To Home [both Golden Horn]. Her singing, particularly on Balkan Journeys, I found to be both in keeping with tradition and so personal, expressive and warm that I was already on the lookout for new efforts. Karsilama is a more ambitious project than Balkan Journeys--here, she's fronting musicians of another culture and attempting to interpret material even farther from the Western tradition. She interprets the material with extreme sensitivity, exotic maqamat scales and all. Her characteristic vocal timber is unusual for this type of material, but her mastery of each maqam and her assimilation of Turkish performance practices is admirable. MacCrimmon has an extremely rich voice and I'm not sure she should be double tracking it; whether because of this or in spite of it, the Albanian track is very strong and one of my favorites.

Because of MacCrimmon's participation, purists might not classify this CD and this band as traditional. Certainly groups like Orbestra, 3 Mustaphas 3, and Boiled In Lead have specialized in performing traditional music not< their birthright. And many world artists have had producers influencing their sound, and sometimes producers and artist both jump into the mix, witness Lindley/Kaiser, David Byrne, and Ry Cooder. So it's becoming harder to get a fix on who's "us" and who's "them." In the Balkan arena, it's progressively more difficult the gulf between reinterpreters like the Pennywhistlers and native performers such as Les Mysteres des Voix Bulgares. Instead, as an example, you have a very talented American singer, Carol Silverman, performing with Bulgarian Yuri Yunakov on two Traditional Crossroads CDs. There are also excellent singer-musicians born into the "right" tradition but whose music reflects non-traditional influences, such as the excellent vocalist/clarinetist on the two Ziyia releases on Agarythm, Christos Govetas. So if you're inclined to dismiss recordings which include "outside" artists, you may miss some very fine recordings of ethnic music...and for anyone interested in the folklore of the myriad ethnic groups influenced by Turkish music, Karsilama's debut CD is not to be missed.

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You can contact Brenna MacCrimmon about purchasing the CD "direct." Her e-mail address is lostkoma@hotmail.com. You can see and sample the album at Global Village. Karsilama was nominated in 1999 for a Juno award (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy) in the Global category.

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reviewed by Don Weeda,

Don lives in Austin, TX and plays klezmer accordion in Rubinchik's Yiddische Ensemble. In addition, he plays multi-eastern accordion in 1001 Nights Orchestra and eastern European accordion in Slavadillo. Legend says that he plays accordion because it is lighter than a piano. Don hosted In Our Village on KEOS community radio, featuring music from around the world, when he lived in Bryan-College Station.

dweeda@mail.utexas.edu

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