True originality is a rare commodity these days, but this group has it. Mercan Dede manages to bridge the high traditions of the Turkish past and the forward-looking electronic music of today without compromising either. Sufi spirituality, with its notion of joining opposites, lies at the core of this group’s deep, fluid, inspirational concept. Their first two albums, packaged here as a set, reveal the evolution of an idea with the power to shatter preconceptions and boundaries, and to genuinely touch the soul with music of spectacularly hip beauty.
Musicians:
Mercan Dede (Reed flute, Sound, Electronic Sounds, Keyboard, Percussion, Rhythm programming, Rhythm instruments, Frog sounds, Water Rhythms, Vocals, Chimes, Percussion Instruments), Hugh Marsh (Bass, Keyboards, Electric Violin, Plucked Instrument), Scott Russell (Bass, Percussion, Keyboards), Hüsnü Senlendirici (Clarinet), Fraser Hollins (Double Bass), Goksel Baktagir (Zither), Matthew Burton (Vocals, Didjeridu), Yurdal Tokcan (Guitar, Oud, Cumbus), Faroch Shams (Vocals, Taragat), Moksha Sommer (Vocals).
NAR (CD 1) – 8 Tracks. SEYAHATNAME (CD 2) – 9 Tracks.
17 Tracks on 2 CDs.