Türkiye - Istanbul to Izmir

 As we are heading out of Istanbul we stop in the eastern neighbourhood of Kadıköy, where actress and pop singer GülbenErgen was born in 1972.  Apparently she is hugely popular in Türkiye and her albums have sold in the millions.  Here is her just released single called Nanik:

During the height of his career, clarinettist Mustafa Kandıralı (1930-2010) was known as the sound of the holidays as he hosted a morning show on the radio.  As a 13 year old he ran away from his hometown of Kandıra, 150km on foot, to Istanbul.  He dabbled in many different Anatolian genres, as well as making it internationally in the jazz world, even playing with Louis Armstrong once.  Here is just a bit of a flavour of the man, playing an Anatolian dance tune called Bahriye Çiftetellisi:

Next we are heading south along the west coast of Turkey to Bursa.  This is where composer, ney and bendir player Mercan Dede aka DJ Arkin Allen was born in 1966.  Born as Arkın Ilıcalı, he now lives in Canada producing a fusion of traditional acoustic Turkish and other oriental styles with electronic sounds.  He is also heavily influenced by Sufism and much of his music has a hypnotic quality.  He has accumulated many international awards, including best World Music Album by Womex for his 2007 album 800.  Here is a song from that album called Istanbul:

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Özgür Çelik was born in 1979 in the city of Uşak in the interior part of the Aegean region.  He was born into a family of artisan instrument makers and learned to play the instruments his father made, such as the baglama, the kabak kemane and others, from an early age.  He is now a lecturer at the Aegean University.  On his 2012 solo album Öznağme he showcases many of the different instruments he plays.

Next we are heading to the Aegean coast to the city of Bergama, where Roma clarinettist Hüsnü Şenlendirici was born in 1976.  He comes from a long line of musicians with his father and grandfather both playing clarinet and trumpet.  He is now considered one of the foremost proponents of the Turkish clarinet.  On his 2010 album Ege'nin iki yani (Both sides of the Aegean) he combines with Greek Trio Chi for a meeting of cultures across the sea.  Here's a song from this album called Gel Gel Kayikci (Come, come boatman):

Hüsnü Şenlendirici is also part of Izmir based Roma funk band Laço Tayfa.  This 8-piece ensemble combine Anatolian rhythms with contemporary funk and even reggae sounds.  Here is a tune from their 2002 album Hicaz Dolap called Atmaca:

That's it for today.  As usual you follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.

Germany - Berlin Part 1

 We re-enter Germany, the eastern half this time which used to be the German Democratic Republic and we start with the capital Berlin.  I know Berlin mostly from the time when the Wall was still up and visited the eastern half of the city often, because I was curious to see beyond the black and white propaganda from both sides.  Most notably I spent 4 weeks in the East as a volunteer in 1987 as part of the Student Summer, a summer camp which eastern students were expected to attend to get a taste of manual labour.  We were a group of 30 westerners invited participate and were accommodated in a military style camp with a thousand students from various communist countries working alongside them in public parks.  It was a fascinating experience!  We were even invited to attend a discussion forum inside the Brandenburg Gate, which was a no-go area in no-mans land on the wall.  I thought it would be a tale to tell the grandkids and was gutted when they opened the gate up to all and sundry to walk through 2 years later.

Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse, the main border crossing into East Berlin at the time

Under the Brandenburg Gate in 1987

Me and some of my work mates at the Volkspark in East Berlin

They even put on a number of cultural and music events for us and we saw the likes of the Pudhys, a legendary East German rock band, but also western acts such as Scottish folk rock band Runrig.

Here is a taste of the music of the Pudhys from a re-union concert after the fall of the Wall:

Moving into more modern times folk band 17 Hippies were founded in Berlin in 1995.  Their music largely played on acoustic instruments is influenced by a number of different folk styles including chanson, Balkan, klezmer and American folk, sung in German, French and English.  Here's a Balkan style song of theirs called Frau von Ungefähr (Woman of approximately), which features on their 20th anniversary album Anatomy: 

Berlin has long been a cultural melting pot, attracting creative types to its relatively low living costs, lively cultural scene and its people more open to outside influences than perhaps other parts of Germany.  During the Cold War many young people were actively lured to Berlin by the West German government, male Berliners were exempt from the otherwise compulsory military service, re-locating to West Berlin was subsidised by the state.  This lively and international scene is still very much in evidence.  Fusion band Out Of Nations is one such example.  A relatively new ensemble of 6 musicians carrying 6 different passports was founded in Berlin by American born Lety ElNaggar of Mexican and Egyptian heritage.  Their jazz/funk sounds carry influences from the Middle East and Latin flavours and is a deliberate attempt to blur nationalities.  This is the title track from their 2018 album Quest:

Sven Regner, founder of German rock band Element of Crime, was actually born in Bremen and in fact went to the same school as I did there, just a couple of years above me.  He did move to Berlin in 1982, where he founded the band in 1985.  He writes most of their songs, initially in English, but now in German and they are inspired by chanson, rock and pop.  Here's a nice melancholic song called Wenn es dunkel und kalt wird in Berlin (When it's getting dark and cold in Berlin) from their 2018 album Schafe, Monster und Mäuse (Sheep, Monsters and Mice):

Berlin based Hungarian speed-folk band The Transsylvanians was established in 1995 by Hungarian violinist and composer András Tiborcz.  Their self-proclaimed 'speed-folk' incorporates elements of rap, rock, Bartok, ska and punk.  Here's a song from their 2000 album Denevér called Tulipán:

Berlin has long had been influenced by the east with all the shifting of borders near it.  Singer and accordionist Irina Doubrovskaya arrived in the city from Russia after the fall of the Wall.  She was a musician in the underground scene of the old Soviet Union and she met up with some more in Berlin and together they formed ErsatzMusik in 2006.  They produce an alternative Russian folk with occasional blues intonations. Their initial recordings were just to share with friends and family, but they were persuaded that they were good enough to share their music with the wider public. Their last 2 albums NavyBlue Nonesuch (2014) and Vedmedya (2018) are available as free downloads on their website.  This is a song from the latter album called Lezginka:

We'll leave it at that for the moment and continue with some more music from Berlin next time.  Until then you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Hungary - The Northeast

 Last year I helped a friend relocate to Spain and as a thank you she gave me a CD/book by Hungarian folk ensemble Szeredás from Debrecen in the Hajdúsák region of north-eastern Hungary.  The 1999 Cuháré album is beautifully presented with an explanatory booklet in Hungarian and English.  The group have been playing traditional Hungarian music of their home region since 1993.  Here is the title song from the album, meaning merry making, a fun song in the Csardas style about a lost horse and other countryside adventures:

We are moving on to the town of Eger, where folk rock band Kerekes was formed in 1995.  They combine traditional shepherds flute tunes with Jimmy Hendrix-like guitar riffs and elements of psychedelia.  It makes for a great fun Ethno-funk sound.  They recently released a new album: Fire (Live at Hortobágy).  This is a song of the album, called Jellyfish/Ördöngős

In a similar vein electro folk band Holdviola were formed in 2006 in Miskolc.  Having recently split, they took Hungarian folk songs and put them in a contemporary pop setting, making them very popular in their home country.  Here is a song called Ha Te tudnád amit én from their 2010 album Vandórfecske:

Cimbalom virtuoso Kálmán Balogh was born in 1959 in Miskolc of Gypsy heritage.  He has studied gypsy music for several years before becoming a prolific performer both solo and as part of varies ensembles, most notably with the Gypsy Cimbalom Band.  This solo performance of the Bonchida Dance (Bontsida Tánc) really shows off his wizardry on this instrument and features as a full band version on the 1995 album Roma Vándor:

The name of Roma Hip-hop band Fekete Vonat means Black Train, referring to the train departing from Szabolcs to Budapest, which was used as a commuting train by many of the Gypsy community looking for work in the capital.  They were formed in 1997 demonstrating some sub-culture amongst the minority community.  Here's a song by them called Hol van az a lány:

From a black train to a white horse, the meaning of Gypsy music ensemble Parno Graszt, who were formed in the village of Paszab in 1987.  In Roma culture the colour white stands for purity and a horse symbolises freedom, so you could call them Pure Freedom, a very Gypsy concept.  Simon Broughton of Songlines magazine is quoted as saying: "They do not use sources of Gypsy music - they are the source itself".  This is the title song of their 2002 album Rávágok a Zongorára/Hit the Piano:

That's it from Hungary as we hit the 10,000 mile mark on our virtual journey since we started in Portaferry, Northern Ireland.  Next stop is Slovakia.  Until then you can follow my virtual trip on my tripline map.