Türkiye - The Southeast & Northern Kurdistan

As we re-enter Türkiye, we also enter the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan.  There are no strictly defined borders to Kurdistan, but the ethnic group of Kurds are spread around south-eastern Türkiye, northern Iraq, north-western Iran and northern Syria.  They have their own music, culture and language and have for decades fought an on-going conflict to gain independence and/or greater autonomy within current national borders.  The PKK on the Turkish side has just announced a ceasefire as I write this.

First stop is a quick flying visit to Kars, where Metin Demiral of the band Café Türk spent part of his childhood.  We have met him previously in Switzerland, where his band was based, and you can check it out here.

Moving on to the village of Kiğı, where singer and tembur player Ali Doğan Gönültaş was born in the mid-1980's to a Kurdish family.  He showed early musical promise, and the family soon moved to Istanbul, where young Ali went on to study Archaeology and Cinema.  He joined various ensembles playing Kurdish music, before going solo and has toured internationally to great acclaim.  Here is a song from his 2022 album dedicated to his home town Kiğı called Entercîme:

Kurdish singer and musician Aynur Doğan was born in the small mountain town of Çemişgezek in 1975.  In 1992 she fled the conflict zone to Istanbul, where she faced bans for 'promoting division', discrimination and abuse for singing in Kurdish and even threats from right-wing and anti-Kurdish militia, which in turn led her to emigrate to the Netherlands.  Her stunning vocal style infuses traditional Kurdish folk with contemporary western influences and jazz.  She has become a vocal representative for the Kurdish people.  Here is a song from her 2024 album Rabe (Stand up or rise up) called Rabe Edlayê:

Wikipedia seems to be very confused about the birth place of singer and actress Bülent Ersoy.  It agrees with itself that she was born in 1952, but according to the English version she was either born in Siirt or Malatya, both in eastern Anatolia, but over 400km apart, and according to the Turkish version she was born in Istanbul.  We'll stick to Malatya, as it's the first place that comes up when you google her.  What is also not in question is that she was born and started performing as a man.  In 1981 she underwent gender alignment surgery in London, which got her banned under the military government at the time, who were trying to crack down on 'social deviance'.  Nowadays she is one of the most popular singers in Türkiye, known as Diva by her fans' singing in the Turkish Classical and Arabesque style.  Here is one of her biggest hits called Ümit Hırsızı (Hope Thief):

Kurdish wedding musician Tufan Derince was born in Diyarbakir in 1987. Now based in Rotterdam he plays an electrified baglama and performs at weddings around Europe and Turkey and has even appeared at an NPR Tiny Desk concert.  If you are not familiar with Kurdish wedding music, it's a bit like Jimi Hendrix on steroids and reincarnated in Kurdistan.  It's quite mind-blowing! I can't find any music recorded by him, but take in this short NPR concert and watch them bouncing up and down the sofa:

Also born in Diyarbakir in 1952 is Sufi musician Kudsi Ergüner for something a lot calmer.  He is considered a master of Mevlevi Sufi music, the branch of Sufism that was founded in Eastern Anatolia by the followers of the Persian poet Rumi. Ergüner is one of the best players of the Turkish Ney flute.  He produced a huge volume of recorded music and has collaborated with many different artists worldwide, including Peter Gabriel.  Here is a sample of his music and a fascinating snippet of how he chooses a reed to make his flute:

 

Just a hop and a skip away is the village of Urfa, where oud player Mehmet Polat was born in 1981.  Trained in Anatolian folk and Ottoman classical music, he has developed his own technique for a more contemporary sound incorporating his instrument in jazz ensembles.  He is now based in the Netherlands.  Here is the title track from his 2023 album Embodied Poetry:

Kurdish singer/songwriter Olcay Bayir was born in Gaziantep near the Syrian border, but she won't reveal her age.  As a teenager she moved to London with her family, where she went on to study operatic singing. She soon realised she preferred to give voice to the traditional music of her homeland.  She very much gives a contemporary twist to the music of the wider Anatolian region, singing in multiple languages, including Kurdish, Turkish, Armenian and Greek.  Her 2014 debut album Neva / Harmony was met with great critical acclaim.  Here is a song from that album called Melamet Hirkasi:

Finally we hit the Mediterranean coast once again in the city of Adana, where multi-instrumentalist and composer Omar Faruk Tekbilek was born in 1951.  He was an early musical protégé when he started working at his uncle's music store in exchange for music lessons.  He began with playing the kaval, a small diatonic flute, moved on to the Ney flute, the zurna, an oboe-like double reed instrument and finally the baglama and the oud.  At the age of 12 he turned professional and at the age of 16 he moved to Istanbul with his brother, where they became sought after session musicians.  In the 1970's he began touring internationally and on a tour of the USA he met his future wife and stayed there in 1976.

His influences initially were very much the folk music of Anatolia, but after discovering Sufism and after an encounter with electronic musician Brian Keane he really found his own style combining Sufi music and Anatolian instruments with contemporary electronic ambient sounds, for which he is known to this day.  Here's a track from his 2016 album Love Is My Religion called Barefoot Dervish:

That concludes our virtual tour of Türkiye, next we are slowly making our way west again, beginning with a quick hop over to Cyprus.  In the meantime, as usual, you follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.

Armenia - Yerevan & the Diaspora

 

Photo credit: By Սէրուժ Ուրիշեան (Serouj Ourishian) - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51469965

We arrive in Yeravan, the capital city of Armenia in the shadow of Mount Ararat, although the peak where Noah's ark is said to have been stranded is actually across the border in Türkiye. 

First up we meet the Gurdjieff Ensemble, which was established here in 2008 by Lebanese born Armenian Levon Eskenian.  They named themselves after philosopher, mystic and folk music collector George Gurdjieff, who died in 1949 and covers much of the music he unearthed arranged to traditional instruments of the region, including of course the duduk.  Here is an introductory video to their 2015 album Komitas:

The Naregatsi Orchestra also traces its origins to 2008 as an off-spring of the Naregatsi Art Institute in Yeravan.  The 30-head ensemble also recites traditional material on traditional instruments, but also incorporate western classical pieces. Here is a piece from their 2022 album Nor Shunch called Eshkehmed: 

Duduk player Vardan Grigoryan was born in Yeravan in 1971.  He has been part of a number of ensembles.  In 2022 he released his first international solo album called In the Shadow of the Song.  Here is an emotional live rendition of the opening track My Heart Broke Through performed in the aftermath of the 2018 terror attack on the Christmas market in Strassbourg, France:

9 years ago composer and duduk player Sar Kamler was a musical illiterate and couldn't even read music.  Growing up in Yerevan he was always fascinated by the sounds of his homeland, but it was not until he emigrated to Toronto, Canada, that he picked up the duduk and found himself a mentor in Georgy Minasov.  His relatively late entry into music allowed him to take a fresh approach fusing the haunting sound of the duduk with other influences including western classical music and even funk as in the track below.  His debut album Butterfly: Colours of Armenian Duduk is listed as being released as 2027, but is already available, making it the first album from the future featured here!  He composed all the music on the album himself.  Here is a track from the album called Funky Sar:

And talking about Samler's mentor, duduk player Georgy Minasov (1933-2020) was actually brought up in Kazakhstan, but moved to Yerevan in 1983.  He graduated from Baku Music College and the Azerbaijani music form of Mugham influenced his style.  He not only performed and recorded, but taught a whole generation of duduk players and even invented a new duduk that enabled players to add an extra octave to their repertoire.  Here is a song from his 2022 compilation album Folk Songs called Qamancha:

I don't know much about singer Gevorg Margaryan, apart from the fact that he is based in Yerevan.  He describes himself as a folk singer, but he mixes his Armenian folk songs with electronic accompaniment and dance rhythms.  Hence fittingly the name of his 2021 album is Electrofolk, which is just what it says on the tin.  Here is a track from the album called Hoy Nargiz:

Finally we pick a couple of artists from the vast Armenian diaspora, who were born in exile.  First up is avant-garde folk and jazz multi-instrumentalist and singer Arto Tunçboyaciyan, who was born in Istanbul in 1957 and later emigrated to the USA.  He fronts his Armenian Navy Band and has collaborated with hundreds of other acts including Chet Baker and Joe Zawinul, as well as his elder brother Onno.  Throughout his career he stayed true to his Armenian roots though, but open to many other influences including Anatolian and Greek music and of course jazz.  

In 1996 his brother Onno tragically lost his life in a plane crash, the grief of which inspired Arto to write 2 albums, including the 2000 release Every Day is a New Life.  Here is a tune from the album called I Miss You Every Moment My Brother:

And here he is with his Armenian Navy Band with the song Here Is to You Ararat from their 2006 album How Much Is Yours:

The grandmother of singer Mariam Matossian fled the Armenian genocide in 1915 and settled in Vancouver, Canada.  Mariam herself grew up speaking Armenian at home and with the songs her grandmother had taught her.  In 1998 she was the first member of her family to set foot in Armenia again after her grandmother's escape.  She subsequently released 2 albums of Armenian folk songs and dedicated her life to helping impoverished street children in Yerevan.  Here is a song from her 2007 album In The Light called Yelar Sarov:

That's it from Armenia, next we are heading back into south-eastern Türkiye, if they let us in after I mentioned the 'genocide'.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Armenia - The North

 Armenia has a long yet turbulent history.  First established as far back as 860 BC it has been occupied by various neighbouring powers over the centuries including the Ottoman, Persian and Russian empires.  Arguably the darkest period of its history was the Armenian Genocide during World War I, where large parts of the population where killed or displaced by Ottoman forces, an event that modern-day Türkiye denies happened.  Even in its current incarnation since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia has been embroiled in conflict with its neighbour Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where there was a majority of ethnic Armenians.  With the support of the Armenian army the region briefly declared the de-facto independent state of Artsakh in 1991, but has been retaken by Azerbaijan in 2023, leading to the exodus of the Armenians living there.

The land borders to both Azerbaijan and Türkiye remain closed, but we'll ignore that fact for the purpose of this blog.  Despite all those struggles over literally millennia, Armenians have retained their own identity, with their own language, script, religion and culture, and because of the conflicts there is a large worldwide diaspora continuing to keep the traditions alive.

We start our virtual musical journey in the centre of the country in the village of Solak, where Armenia's most famous proponent of their national instrument the duduk, Djivan Gasparyan was born in 1928.  A duduk is a simple wooden oboe-like instrument, with a haunting sound.  Gasparyan played for the likes of Stalin and Nelson Mandela, collaborated with stars like Peter Gabriel, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ludovico Einaudi, the Kronos Quartet, Brian May, Annie Lennox... the list goes on.  He also composed film music, including the score for Gladiator and Blood Diamond.  He died in 2021 leaving behind a massive legacy, which I can't even begin to scratch the surface of.  Here's a tune called They Took My Love Away, which features on his 2013 album Moon Shines At Night: 

We have already met young Duduk player Arsen Petrosyan as part of the Turkish, Georgian and Armenian group A.G.A. Trio.  He was born and raised in the town of Charentsavan and is one of the up-and-coming stars on the scene, having completed a Masters degree in music at the Komitas Conservatory in Yerevan in 2016.  Here is a track from his 2021 solo album Hokin Janapar (My Soul's Journey) called I Will Die for the Wind of The Mountains with some spectacular mountain scenery in the shots.:

Jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan was born in the north-western city of Gyumri in 1987.  He now resides in the USA and his style is very much influenced by American Jazz as well as Armenian folk.  His 2018 EP For Gyumri is meant as an extension to his album An Ancient observer and meant as an homage to his home town. Here is a tune from the album called Rays of light:

That's it from the north of Armenia for the moment, next we are heading for the capital Yerevan.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual journey on my tripline map.

Azerbaijan - The South & Nagorno-Karabakh

 Before leaving Baku we stop in the neighbourhood of Surakhani where singer Aygün Beyler (sometimes transcribed as Baylar) was born in 1975. Sadly she died last year of breast cancer.  She was another child prodigy, joining the Azerbaijan State Children's Philharmonic at the age of 13.  She was known for her powerful and emotional style of Mugham singing and her characteristic grey suit and flat cap.  Here is one of her more upbeat songs called Qarabağ, set in a traditional style wedding presumably in the disputed Karabakh region. You can hear more on her one 2006 international release for a Spanish label, Entre El Cielo Y La Tierra. Mugam De Azerbaiyán. Betwen Haven And Earth. Mugam De Azrbaiyán 

Next we are heading to the far south of Azerbaijan to the region of Lerik near the Iranian border.  The remote mountainous area is famous for the exceptional longevity of its mostly ethnic Talysh population.  According to the Guinness Book of Records, the oldest person ever to have been recorded came from there, dying at the age of 167 in 1973.  Grammy award winning American music producer Ian Brennan has made it his mission to make field recordings of some of the most marginalised people in the world, and went in the middle of the Covid pandemic to visit the area and record traditional and original songs from ordinary people, mostly over 100 years old.  He published the music in 2023 as The Oldest Voice in the World - Thank You for Bringing Me Back to the Sky.  It's never going to be a chart topper, but it offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of people who are marginalised not only as an ethnic minority, but as old people too.  None of the singers wanted to have their names mentioned, none of them are professional singers, but shepherds and farmers, telling their stories in song.  They live without indoor plumbing and only intermittent electricity.  Here is the opening song from the album called My Life Is Good, It Is Like A Flower:

Next we are heading into the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which was taken by Armenia during a 1993 war and re-taken by Azerbaijan in 2020.  Nowhere is the futility of this conflict more evident than in the ghost city of Jabrayil, which had been completely destroyed by Armenian forces during the  1993 war and still abandoned to this day, bar a military installation.  Mugham singer Zahid Quliyev (sometimes spelled Guliyev) was born here in 1963.  He performs solo as well as part of a trio, the Mugam Ensemble of Jabbar Karygdy.  His music is difficult to obtain internationally, but here is a TV performance of his:

Mugham singer Gochag Askarov was born a few miles further north in the village of Ghouchahmedli in 1978.  His family had to flee the area following the Armenian invasion and he has now settled in Baku.  He sings in the traditional style, but also mixes it up sometimes with some jazz as on the collaboration with French Jazz singer Pierre de Trégomain on their 2017 album Mugham Souls.  Here is a short live concert of the 2 of them:

Another few kilometres to the north is Fuzuli, where the first of 2 musicians swapping the tar for the electric guitar comes from.   Rəhman Məmmədli was born there in 1961.  The arrival of Czechoslovakian Jolana guitars in the country in the 1960's and 70's transformed the music scene, with many young musicians combining traditional styles with psychedelic surf sound.  He earned himself the nickname "The Man With the Singing Fingers".  Here's a song from the 2024 album Azerbaijani Gitara volume 2 called Qoca Dağlar:

Recognised as one of the best tar players Ramiz Guliyev was born in the village of Karakend in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1947.  At the age of 7 he was gifted his first tar by his uncle, who could no longer play due to an injury he suffered during World War II.  He went on to become a master of this traditional instrument and passed on his talent to his son Ayub, with whom he often duets.  He plays both traditional improvisational style as well as adapting the tar to play western classical music combining with piano or symphony orchestras.  Here he plays a tune from his 2013 album Dialogues With the Tar called Xaric Segah:

Mugham singer Nezaket Teymurova was born in the village of Alimaddli in 1972.  Another honoured artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan, she has won multiple awards.  Here is a song featuring on her 2012 album Mugham called Tasnif and Chahargah:

Finally we are heading for the village of Kosalar, where another artist who swapped the tar for the electric guitar to play Azerbaijani folk.  His music has also recently been reissued by Belgian label Les Disques de Bongo. Rüstǝm Quliyev, was born in 1969, and sadly died prematurely of lung cancer in 2005.  Here's a song from the 2020 album Azerbaijani Gitara called Baş Sarıtel:

That's it from Azerbaijan, next we are heading over to Armenia.  As usual, you can follow my virtual travels on my Tripline Map.

Azerbaijan - Baku

 

Picture credit: By Sefer azeri - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122625891

We arrive in Azerbaijan's capital and commercial hub Baku on the shores of the Caspian Sea.  Here the traditional music styles of the country often get blended with other influences.  

First we meet Folk fusion band Rast, who combine their traditional Mugham with Jazz, pop and sometimes rock. They were established in 1992 with lead singer Sevdah Alekperzadeh.  The name Rast refers to a musical modal system in Mugham music.  Here is a cut from a concert for their 20th anniversary.  For more check out their 2014 album Rast Dünyası.

Jazz pianist, singer and composer Aziza Mustafa Zadeh was born in Baku in 1969.  She came from a musical family, her father also being a pianist and her mother a singer.  They discovered her musical talent when she was only 8 years old.  Her style is more pure jazz with only some hints of Mugham, which mostly shows when she is singing.  She is now based in Germany.  Here is the instrumental title track to her 2016 album Dance of Fire:

More traditional is singer Sevda Alekbarzadeh, who was born in Baku in 1977.  She is classically trained including in opera and jazz.  She incorporates some of the latter into her Mugham compositions.   She is known for her powerful voice.  Here is the opening track from her 2012 album Worlds of Love called Ele deme (Don't talk that way):

The career of singer Azerin began at the tender age of 5, when she became a soloist of the Azerbaijan State Television and Radio.  She was born in Baku in 1971.  She combines tradtitional mugham with elements of pop and Jazz.  Here is a song from her 2015 album Yüreklerde Biriz called Küçelere Su Serpmişem:

Finally another female singer called Aygün Kazımova, born 1971 in Baku, who veers more towards Azerbaijani flavoured pop with some Latin thrown in as well as, like in the video below, a sprinkling of Riverdance.  She is one of the bestselling artists in the country, hence her inclusion here.  Here is a song called Я и Ты from her bestselling 200 album Aygün:

That's it from Baku for the moment, we'll explore the rest of the country next.  Meanwhile you can follow my virtual tour on my Tripline map.

Azerbaijan - The North

Next we are heading into Azerbaijan.  They gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991 and have become rich due to large oil reserves.  It recently tried to greenwash its image by hosting the COP climate conference.  Culturally it has a rich history, particular its music, which is related to the music of neighbouring Iran.  There are 3 main styles of music prevalent: 1) Meykhana, which is sometimes referred to as Azeri Rap or Wedding Rap, 2) the Ashiq tradition of travelling bards singing semi-improvised ballads accompanied by the saz, or simply solo instrumentals on the saz, which he have already become acquainted with in our last post in Georgia, and finally and most importantly 3) Mugham, combining classical poetry with musical improvisations often accompanied on the tar, another middle eastern lute.  

Crossing from Georgia into the northwest of the country, our first stop is in the Kazakh District (Qazax rayonu), where Ashiq bard Edalat Nazibov was born in 1939.  He died in 2017 and I don't know much else about him.  Here is a song from his 2003 album Azerbaidjan - The Art of Saz called Gerayli:

Next we are heading into the Shamakhi district and the village of Nabur.  This is where one of the most famous Mugham singers Alim Qasimov was born in 1957. Growing up on a Soviet farm cooperative he had the calling to become a musician early on and his parents supported him through his studies.  He is now compared to the famous Qawali singer Nusrat Ali Khan, has collaborated with the likes of Jeff Buckley and Yoyo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble.  Icelandic singer Bjork lists him as her favourite singer.  Alim's daughter Farghana Qasimova (born in 1979) is also an accomplished Mugham singer and has accompanied her father on tour since she was 16 years old and recorded some music together with him. Here they are singing as a duo at the Osnabruck Morgenland Festival. More of their music can be heard on their joint 2007 album Music of Central Asia Vol. 6 - Spiritual Music of Azerbaijan.

Next we're heading for to the city of Sumgait near the Caspian Sea, which is where folk musician Alihan Samidov was born in 1964. He specialises is wind instruments, specifically the balaban, oboe, clarinet, zurna and saxophone.  Here is the opening track from his 2021 album Batman konseri-2 called Sen Gelmez oldrun:

We'll leave it at that for today, next stop is the capital Baku.  Meanwhile you follow my virtual journey on my Tripline Map.

Georgia - The East

 The largest ethnic minority in Georgia are the Azeris, who make up 6% of the population and are largely concentrated around the Kvemo Kartli region around the city of Rustavi just south of Tbilisi.  Their language and musical traditions are closer to those of Turkey and Iran with the saz (a long-necked lute) a popular instrument played by Aşiq bards travelling the region.  Nargilə Mehtiyeva aka Aşiq Nargilə is the only female bard plying her trade there, although she was born in Tbilisi. Some of her music has been published as an album called Yurt Yeri in 2023  from a rare live performance in the UK.  Here is a live performance of hers on Georgian TV:

The Polyphonic choir Ensemble Rustavi has been going since 1968, playing more traditional Georgian folk.  Here is a song called Ni Gikvars Qalav, which features on their 2016 self-titled album:

Singer and poet Teona Qusiashvili was born in 1984 in Sioni in the Pshav-Khevsureti region of Eastern Georgia. She specialised in the folk songs of her region. Sadly she was killed alongside her 2 sons and sister, plus 3 others in a tragic car accident in 2010 aged only 26, as their car plunged into an icy river on the mountainous roads of her home region.  Her poet husband Gela Daiauri survived the accident.  Here is a song of hers:

The ensemble Zedashe was formed in the mid-1990's in the town of Sighnaghi in the Caucasus Mountains and is one of the few mixed male and female polyphonic choirs in Georgia.  They have produced a lot of material including polyphonic chants, folk songs as well as instrumental dance tunes.  Here is a song from their 2020 album Enduring Fortress called Tamar Kalo sung at the Khornabudji Fortress:

Finally we are heading to the village of Anaga, where 'the voice of Georgia' Hamlet Gonashvili was born in 1928. He also died prematurely in 1985 falling from an apple tree. Way to go!  He was considered one of the best interpreters of songs from the Kartli and Kakheti regions. Here is a song from his 1995 posthumous album Hamlet called Tsintskaro:

That's it from Georgia, next stop is Azerbaijan. As usual, you can follow my virtual journey on my Tripline Map.