11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
15th - 17th century 'Ottoman Empire' music deluxe, July 8, 2007
This review is from: Parfums Ottomans: Arabic Turkish Court Music (Audio CD)
This is an elegantly performed and packaged two-CD set by the Ensemble Al Kindi, a 10-member group that was formed in 1983. Director and qanun player Julian Jâlal Eddine Weiss has gathered musicians from Turkey, Syria, Egypt and other points around the former Ottoman Empire. They recreate the music of the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, found in some remarkable historical manuscripts. The music consists of instrumental and vocal improvisations as well as measured songs and ghazals. Weiss adamantly eschews the use of Western European instruments so popular in today's cross-cultural collaborations. He states in the liner notes that these instruments are incapable of correctly realizing the complex language of the maqam. Instead, we hear ud, tanbur, nay, riqq, daff, and tar, and the players and singers are all top-notch.
The delicate "Taqsim tanbur neva," a tanbur solo by Özer Özel that opens the first disc, sets the contemplative mood for the nearly two and a half hours of music that follows. Dogan Dikmen's improvisation on "Ghazal turc neva" displays a rich voice with a pulsing vibrato. The twenty-four minute "Le long frémissement de l'aube" has elements of the avant garde in its instrumental improvisations, yet the musicians never go beyond what is characteristic for the style.
The liner notes, in French and English, are extensive and scholarly and tackle such subjects as history, modes, performance practice, rhythm, and temperament. There are also several pages of Weiss' own transcriptions of some of the pieces (in Western notation.) The entire package is literate and beautifully conceived from both musical and artistic standpoints.
- Peggy Latkovich
review from CDroots site which has samples and more information
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