Su

Mercan Dede | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 19, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: La Escondida
• ASIN: B00080Z58E
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,479 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Turkey has recently emerged as a world-renowned musical hot-bed. Ancient styles from the region are robust and varied but new sounds from the clubs of Istanbul are considered especially seductive. Mercan Dede, who now resides in Montreal, is a cutting-edge Sufi Dervish, a Turkish-born composer, DJ and producer with spiked hair and several identities. The album's title translates to "water" and it consists of meditations inspired by the Bosphorous Straits. Realized by give-and-take between traditional strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion along with airy, droning electronica, the music flows in ripples, evoking tidal ebbs, surges and cresting, hissing waves, redolent of hot, entranced noondays and cricket-serenaded moon-rises. Indian chanteuse Susheela Raman, Trans-Global Underground sitarist Sheema Mukherjee, Tunisian singer Dhafer Youssef, electric violinist Hugh Marsh, and Turkish rapper Ceza merge and separate, but this is business-as-usual in a place that has stood at the crossroads of Europe and Asia since time out of mind. --Christina Roden

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Digital age Sufi, September 18, 2005

By 

Bruno Valette (Granada, Spain / España) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Su (Audio CD)

An astonishing work of intricate delicacy and daring creativity. Mercan Dede makes a quantum leap in his maturity as an artist. The different instruments, oriental and classical, western electronic and rap singing are not merely mixed. Way beyond those artificial divisions, they are used indistinctly by the artist to gradually build the climax of this Sufi ritual, and to express with the tools of today the ancient tradition of approaching Divinity through the purest artistic beauty. All notions of east and west, past and future, are transcended and disappear into the constant swirls of the waters (Su) of the Bosphorus - whirling like Dervishes.
Listen, surrender, dissolve and elevate.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Waters of Passion, Ecstasy and Calm, January 6, 2007

By 

Zekeriyah (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Su (Audio CD)

Part of a planned series focusing on the elements, this CD was inspired by Mercan Dede's meditations on the shores of the Bosphorus and it shows. 'Su' is the Turkish word for water, and indeed every song on this CD is named for a different kind of water. Sometimes it's the water of ecstasy, as on 'Ab-i Tarab' which is accompanied by the clarinet, while others times it's more seren, as on 'Ab-i Verd' and 'Ab-i Zen'. 'Ab-i Hayat' is uplifting and lively, while 'Ab-i Beste' is mysterious and haunting. The twelve tracks on this CD showcase a wide range of moods and feelings, but all show a marvelous blend of modern electronica with Turkish instrumentation, percussion and sensibilities. This makes the CD both exotic and enticing to western listeners, even those who aren't familiar with Middle Eastern music. A couple songs drift even further east, showing Indian influences. 'Ab-i La'l' features the Indian sitar, while Tamil singer Susheela Raman lends her voice to 'Ab-i Beka'. In my opinion, this CD represents Mercan Dede's most powerful work to date, and I enjoyed it greatly. When I have more money, I intend to buy more of his CDs, but until then, this is a great example of the new generation of Middle Eastern musicians. I strongly recommend this CD to anyone interested in Turkish electronica, and fans of music in general, since you don't have to speak Turkish to appreciate the beauty of this music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Su evokes dreamy images, May 18, 2007

By 

W. H. Harmon - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Su (Audio CD)

I enjoy listening to this CD during short periods (30 minutes) of time while driving long distances. It evokes imagery of places I have never been to, and that is interesting to me. It creates dreamy but sullen images which is why I can only enjoy it in short spurts. I prefer the instrumental pieces more than those where voices enter in. They seem to get in the way of the music sometimes because the voices are in a higher in pitch than I enjoy.
It is a terrific CD to have as background music at an opening where the art and music can mingle peacefully.