Customer Reviews

Painted on Water

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Never have I heard such deftly handled remake of folk songs. The original lyrics were interpreted into English with utmost care and surrounded with mesmerizing new music. The band is absolutely first class. Not only they are a rocking jam band as well as tenacious jazz practitioners but they also seamlessly weave these with operatic nuances. Their sound was both superbly tight but also magically improvisational when they chose it to be.

Sertab is in a league of her own. Her voice is crystalline and strong with a laser-like focus. You always knew she had so much reserve left but she never used it for easy effect. Bravo!

I bought this album because I met her and her partner Demir Demirkan in a Japanese restaurant in New York. They were so pleasant and down-to-earth, and she talked about having studied opera. Their English was beyond PERFECT. Well this album is in English and the arrangements and feel are totally original. It's something like smooth jazz and something like pop and something like soft rock. It is definitely 100% original, and really pleasant and romantic, and every single word in English is easily understood. This singer, Sertab Erener must have studied singing speech because she sounds like a SEASONED PRO in our language. I loved it! The words are translated from folk tales, but they come across as interesting, and charming, and surprisingly "universal."
The first album I bought was entirely in Turkish and I don't know any Turkish, but it is still very enjoyable.

This is one of the best albums I have listened to in the last couple of years. Al Di Meola and Dave Weckl perform as guest musicians. This should give you an idea about the quality of this record.


I was fortunate to listen to this amazing duo live. Actually I just came from their concert and I am still in a different dimension. I'm so inspired by Demir's virtuosity that I came home and have been playing the guitar for the last two hours. Sertab has the most beautiful voice in the world, my eyes were watery listening to "Ask". Engin was amazing at the drums, he has a unique style, he is very expressive and versatile. The keyboardist and the bassist were no less when it comes to virtuosity.

I will buy more albums and give them to my family and friends.

Painted On Water is the project of Turkish pop star Sertab Erener and guitar player Demir Demirkan, whose resume includes stints with Turkey's greatest heavy metal band, Mezarkabul, as well a number of solo albums. Also, Demirkan is the composer and lyricist of "Every Way That I Can" -- sung by Sertab Erener -- Turkey's so far first and only Eurovision Song Contest winner.

Painted On Water, however, is a venture into a totally different musical territory. It is neither pop nor rock music. Rather, the album sees the duo cohesively converging pieces of traditional Turkish folk music with modern jazz, blues, and some rock leanings. It may seem like a cliched experiment on paper, but that could not be further from the truth. Adapting these century-old Anatolian songs to a more modern musical environment without taking away their charm is an admirable feat in and of itself. Add to this an array of guests, from the amazing Al DiMeola to fusion guitarist Mike Stern and jazz drum master Dave Weckl, the album combines all these musicians' skills in a strictly defined macro-compositional framework, still allowing them to showcase their talent when the songs demand it.

On a song like "Shenaz on Shiraz", as an example, Dave Weckle and Al DiMeola offer their wicked soloing over a simple yet catchy melodic pattern while the instrumental track "Aegean Bride" involves tribal hand drums, amazing guitar work (what a tone), and an addictive jazzy piano figure. Al DiMeola also features on the album opener "Blue", which is yet another simple composition which brings together two classical guitars in which Al DiMeola leaves his indelible print with his distinctive melodic approach and nylon-string guitar playing.

The album is far from an all-star lineup, however. Actually it is Demir Demirkan's ear for arrangement and Sertab Erener's beautiful approach to melody that heightens the scope of the songs. Two personal favourites, "Nothing But to Pray" and "Before the Night", attest to the level of detail in their overall flow. The former is adapted from the very popular "Yemen Turkusu" and contains Erener's unrivaled croon and washes of piano and flickering acoustic guitar notes. Hers is a voice so pure and haunting, especially when she refrains from displaying her well-known operatic skills. This type of singing is something she would never risk on her own solo albums, chock full of vocal acrobatics and songs with lots of catchy refrains. The elegiac singing on "Before the Night" (adapted from the ultimately beautiful "Cokertme") is arguably the album's highpoint and will make anyone with a heart melt! Of course this is largely due to Demirkan's careful attention to detail in the arrangement and his reworking the main melody to a subtle jazz theme. There is also an acoustic version of "Before the Night" at the end of the album as a bonus track, and I have a hard time deciding which one is more riveting. The album version demonstrates a huge amount of dynamics, allowing the music to rise and fall while the acoustic piece is a purer, more direct execution of the song highlighting Erener's vocal skills.

For those seeking more prominent rock grooves and funky rhythms should look into "Mad Love", a more upbeat piece whose main chorus stands out right away; as well as the rock-based "1,000 Faced Man" which is the album's heavier song. It is rife with jazzy harmonies, backing vocals, pounding drum fills, and though a good exercise in its own right, I feel Sertab Erener's voice doesn't lend itself to this type of material as much as it does to more emotive pieces. This is not to say she is incapable of delivering, having studied opera and proven herself to the world. It's just that I like to hear her in a more laidback space with crystalline acoustic guitars providing a nice backdrop to her singing. It is these moments I feel she is at her expressive best as a singer.

The title track is obviously inspired by the Turkish art of Ebru where dye floats on water. This is also alluded to in the lyrics when Erener sings, "Story painted on water". Contrary to the other tracks, this song is informed by a delicate cello melody swirling around a classical piano line. Erener sings in a very Western style to complement the music without disrupting the melody of the Turkish folk song, "Ah Bir Ates Var".

The production of the album was handled by Demir Demirkan and the Grammy Award-winnging Jay Newland, and it is absolutely fabulous. The arrangements are light and transparent with plenty of space that allow the songs to flow freely. Also, Erener's vocals were supposedly recorded on a 1930s microphone in order to fully capture the timbre and essence of her voice, obviously with great results.

I'm not really a fan of either Erener or Demirkan as a solo artist, but this disc warrants everyone's, especially fans of jazz and blues as well as world music, attention.

Demir Demirkan and Sertab Erener have carried Anatolian folk songs to a new dimension. If you are familiar with Turkish culture, you have probably heard all these tunes over and over at various occasions - for example Sehnaz Longa (Sehnaz on Shiraz in the album) is a must on all New Year's Eve TV shows), but they would have always been in the same form. Exploiting the melodic structure in these decades,centuries old tunes, Demirkan & Erener have given them a modern body. Their playful arrangement and Sertab Erener's cotton-candy like voice makes it a pleasure to listen to this album.

It is really hard to describe, they are simply Perfect! Their musical background, their musical talent and now beyond that they combined music with an art, with an culture... I am so proud to have their album... also San Francisco concert was awesome =)

I saw Painted on Water live in Seattle on 9/12/2009 and picked up their CD at the concert. The band members are exceptionally talented, and this recording shows their best. In addition to the strong vocals from Sertab, some of the best known jazz and session musicians have contributed to the music, including such names as Al Di Meola and Sabri Tulug Tirpan (a young Turkish pianist with a serious classical pedigree). The music builds on Turkish and Middle Eastern themes and seems to be inspired by sufi philosophies.

A must have in your collection if you like Jazz and Fusion. Fantastic combination of Turkish melodies with contemporary rythms.

I had the privilege of seeing the live performance of the Painted on Water project last night and they were amazing! I am ordering the album right now to live that joy over and over again. It is a kind of high quality music that you will love regardless of which kind of music you are a fan of; jazz, ethnic, vocal or rock!

You have to buy and listen this album. Maybe they are not known too much in USA, however they are both very famous singers in Turkey and Europe. Especially Sertab Erener is one of the most respectable singers that I ever heard.