Laço Tayfa - Hicaz Dolap (2002)

Ok, it seems that my internet connection is working again, although a little slower than before. Anyway, enough to let me present you this astounding band from Turkey. Enjoy!

«Laço Tayfa represents a new synthesis within the Turkish Roma (gypsy) tradition. Under the leadership of clarinetist Husnu Senlendirici, Laço Tayfa brings Turkish regional folk music into dialogue with contemporary world music styles, fired by a driving improvisational style. This unification is achieved in Hicaz Dolap at such a level that listeners will find themselves caught up in a journey to the edges of a harmonious whole that is composed of incongruous melodic structures. Every instrument breathes on its own in this album; instruments once thought to be archrivals merge in great harmony.

Laço Tayfa, who gained instant notoriety with the highly respected album In The BuzzBag, recorded with the funk/acid jazz armada Brooklyn Funk Essentials, are now back with their own brand of funk. […] In this album, Laço Tayfa combines the traditional sounds of Asia Minor and Thrace with Laço Tayfa magic and a highly sophisticated infrastructure. […]

Husnu Senlendirici comes from a family of musicians from the Turkish Aegean coastal town of Bergama, where local Roma musicians play for local inhabitants of different ethnic groups. Interestingly, in this area, Roma musicians play versions of brass band instruments. A typical traditional wedding band consists of clarinet, trumpet, snare drum and a double-headed folk bass drum called a davul. The Senlendirici family has consisted of musicians playing clarinet and trumpet for generations, hence the meaning of their last name, "The ones who create celebrations".

[…] After training at the state music conservatory in Istanbul, Husnu joined his father in concerts, recorded with world music artists such as Okay Temiz, and toured Europe and the United States. Husnu also participated in local avant-garde experiments, such as the fusing of Roma improvisational style, Turkish melodies and Western classical and jazz harmonies. While seeking new musical challenges, Husnu remains grounded in local Roma and Turkish urban styles, performing at weddings, with urban singing stars at concerts and on recordings.

For this project with Laço Tayfa, Husnu worked with traditional folk material from each of the regions of Turkey, using signature Roma tunes as a basis for a new synthesis which incorporates jazz harmonies, riffs and textures with Indian tabla as well as North African and Arabic rhythmic patterns. In this repertoire, Husnu also presents sounds from his native region, such as 9/8-meter Roma wedding pieces with driving melodic solos in the Aegean style, the melody of an Aegean folk dance form (zeybek) known as harmandali with solo clarinet and davul in the manner of a neighborhood wedding and an impassioned interpretation of an Aegean urban folk song, "Izmir'in Kavaklari." Within traditional treatments of these diverse regional styles, Husnu embeds new improvisations.» (National Geographic, Courtesy Calabash Music)

Link in comments