CD ECM Records Kayhan Kalhor, Erdal Erzincan: Kula Kulluk Yakisir Mi

2006

Kayhan Kalhor - kamanche
Erdal Erzincan - baglama
Ulas Özdemir - divan baglama

Iranian kamancheh player Kayan Kalhor’s ‘East meets East’ projects have brought some tantalizing cultural hybrids to full flower. The ongoing collaboration with Anatolian baglama master Erdal Erzincan is one of the most striking of them. The source material for their improvisations in this intense and fascinating performance – recorded in Bursa, to the south of Istanbul – includes music from all over Turkey and music of traditional Persian provenance. These two master musicians from Teheran and Erzurum intertwine melodies, revisit “The Wind” (title piece of their 2004 recording), and create instrumental music which acknowledges tradition but declines to be restricted by it.

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Precious little Persian classical music is available to roots enthusiasts in the West who are eager to improve their knowledge of Iran’s culture. In typical enterprising fashion, ECM has seen fit to record an intimate concert between two master musicians who, while emanating from two distinct cultures, are nonetheless linked by a shared border and a shared heritage that extends here to a musical métissage.[...] Pieces vary between traditionally-inspired and improvised numbers, but seam effortlessly into a cohesive whole. .[...] ECM certainly deserve credit for having the courage to put out this ambitious release and it fits comfortably into their continued support for world roots artists who would not otherwise gain a spotlight for themselves.
Tim Stenhouse, UK Vibe

Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor and Turkish saz player Erdal Erzincan are both fantastic traditional musicians with a taste for innovation – and Kalhor’s name has long been an hallmark of quality. [...] it’s not just the contrasting textures of bowed kamancheh and plucked baglama that work so well, but the way the two musicians elaborate on the material in such an organic way. There’s a searing intensity in the music, which sustains nearly an hour with well-paced climaxes and relaxations. [...] This is sublime.
Simon Broughton, Songlines

Nine years ago the Iranian kamancheh master Kayhan Kalhor and the Turkish baglama master Erdal Erzincan produced a fascinating collaborative CD entitled ‘The Wind’, to which this is the equally interesting sequel. The kamancheh is a spike-fiddle, the baglama a deep-toned lute, and they meld vividly. Kalhor’s background is in Western classical music as well as its Persian equivalent; Erzincan’s background is strictly Turkish, but he has chosen to finger-pick rather than use a plectrum, which leads to a much more flexible sound. They deliver traditional songs, and improvise with eloquent force.
Michael Church, The Scotsman

There is a rich ebb and flow to the music which builds to intense climaxes and relaxes into more pensive interludes. The highpoint has to be the nine minutes of ‘Intertwining Melodies’, various traditional tunes which the pair move in and out of in a fully integrated meeting of cultures. It’s also amazing what an expansive range of sounds and feelings these two instruments can summon up – at their busiest they sound like an orchestra.
Peter Bacon, The Jazz Breakfast