There's music from Turkey, Iran, Armenia, Greece, and Georgia by British-Iranian composer Soosan Lollelvar, Montreal-based ensemble Constantinople, and Georgian pianist Giorgi Mikadze.
There’s music from Turkey, Iran, Armenia, Greece, and Georgia from British-Iranian composer Soosan Lollelvar, Montreal-based ensemble Constantinople, and Georgian pianist Giorgi Mikadze.
Listen to music by Iranian-British composer Soosan Lollevar who combines Faraz Eshghi Sahraei’s santur (hammered dulcimer) with the London-based chamber orchestra Ruthless Jabiru, conducted by Kelly Lovelady. The orchestra performs in an alternate tuning to fit in with Persian tuning of the santur on the work, “I am the Spring, You are the Earth”; it’s a piece that considers Lolavar’s own "emerging sense of diasporic identity", (Ramp Global/nonclassical liner notes). Listen also to Constantinople, a Montreal-based ensemble of musicians from Armenia, Turkey, and Iran, who together create brilliant open-border music that speaks to the migration and the mixing of cultures of the Mediterranean and Middle East.
There’s music where microtonal jazz meets traditional Georgian folk songs, using harmonies that we don’t have in most western music. Hear a work inspired by the Svaneti region in the Northwestern Caucasus Mountains by Georgian pianist, composer, and arranger Giorgi Mikadze. Then, listen to a work from Found Sound Nation, which is the global arm of Bang on a Can. Listen to musicians from Armenia, Turkey and Georgia world who listened, exchanged and co-created original music in 2023.
Plus, hear music from the Guo Gan Trio, in a collaboration inspired by the Gobi Desert. Listen to Guo Gan’s erhu (Chinese fiddle), in collaboration with Emre Gultekin, playing a Turkish lute called the baglama, and Levent Yildirim, playing an Egyptian drum doholla from their album, Gobi Desert. That, and more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4858, Music of Armenia, Turkey, Georgia, and Iran (First aired 3/18/2024)
ARTIST: Constantinople
WORK: Devr-e-Raksan [1:00]
RECORDING: Passages
SOURCE: Buda Musique
INFO: budamusique.com | constantinople.ca
ARTIST: Found Sound Nation
WORK: ABMT [7:28]
RECORDING: Sound Bridge Mixtape
SOURCE: fsnrecords.bandcamp.com
INFO: foundsoundnation.org
ARTIST: Giorgi Mikadze and Ensemble Basiani
WORK: Lazhghvash [4:23]
RECORDING: Georgian Microjamz
SOURCE: RareNoise
INFO: giorgimikadze.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: AGA Trio
WORK: Hayrikis[5:08]
RECORDING: Araxes
SOURCE: Riverboat Records
INFO: https://orcd.co/4vvqmqo
ARTIST: Soosan Lolavar, Ruthless Jabiru, Faraz Eshghi Sahraei, Kelly Lovelady
WORK: I am the Spring, You are the Earth[8:22]
RECORDING: Girl
SOURCE: Nonclassical
INFO: https://ruthlessjabiru.bandcamp.com/album/girl
ARTIST: Constantinople
WORK: Devr-e-Raksan [7:44]
RECORDING: Passages
SOURCE: Buda Musique
INFO: budamusique.com | constantinople.ca
ARTIST: Maria Farantouri, Cihan Turkoglu
WORK: Dyo Kosmoi Mia Angalia [5:07]
RECORDING: Beyond the Borders
SOURCE: ECM Records 2585
INFO: ecmrecords.com
ARTIST: Guo Gan Trio
WORK: Kocaoglan Paçarani [6:34]
RECORDING: Gobi Desert
SOURCE: Felmay Records 8260
INFO: felmay.it