Istanbul - Between Orient and Occident Muammer Ketencoğlu & Serkan Mesut Halili

• 1 Doğuya Seyahat / Journey to the East 03:31
• 2 Tamu Daleku 05:06
• 3 Haliç'te / At Golden Horn 02:40
• 4 Aman Beni İhtiyara Verdiler 01:51
• 5 Rast Medhal 02:04
• 6 Nikriz Sirto 01:56
• 7 Street Market on Sunday / Pazar Günü Pazari 00:44
• 8 Uşşak Taksim 02:47
• 9 Ey Bostanci Bir Bostan Ver 03:19
• 10 Nadikver'in Tepesi 03:12
• 11 Açarum Sanduğumi / Senoz Kaydesi 01:29
• 12 Odar Amayi 05:33
• 13 Üsküdar'a Gider İken 02:46
• 14 Delel 02:03
• 15 Bülbülüm Altin Kafeste 03:35
• 16 Gemilerde Talim Var 02:30
• 17 Güzel Kasap 04:09
• 18 Ah İstanbul Sen Bir Han Mısın? 04:57
• 19 Rast Şarkı: Yine Bir Gülnihal 02:06
• 20 Hüseyni Taksim 02:37
• Total Runtime 58:55

Info for Istanbul - Between Orient and Occident

Istanbul's soundscape, as well as its architecture, which already influenced the young Le Corbusier 100 years ago, are as fascinating as the unique, geographical location. In early 2018, Mariko Takahashi and Stefan Winter explore this special city for almost two months to capture urban sounds and hidden folk songs: "Day after day, we wander for hours through the streets and alleys in all weathers. Just like a photographer carries a camera and a painter or architect carries a sketchbook to gather impressions, we collect the sounds of the city with a microphone. In Beyoğlu crowds of people are walking through the İstiklâl Caddesi. Not far from this boulevard marked traders present threat goods and sing simple songs under tarpaulins in the steeply sloping side streets. The Gezi Park near the transport hub Taksim Square today seems to be a haven of peace in our days. In Karaköy, fish vendors are shouting in the market place. Car horns and sirens of impatient drivers resound out of the almost never-ending traffic noise. Chants from loudspeakers from the minarets of Eminönü cross the Golden Horn. Ferry boats - always pursued by the shrieking of seagulls - cross the Bosphorus from Europe to Asia and reach Kadıköy, where the young scene lives today. The seagull screams mingle with the noise of the ship's engines. Announcements sound over deck, low tuned ship horns sound like trombones. In contrast to these urban noises, Kanun player Serkan Mesut Halili and his friends introduce us to the world of classical Turkish music. Our wandering leads deeper and deeper into this huge metropolis. We meet the blind accordion player Muammer Ketencoğlu. He gives the city a voice with his accordion and his own radio show. Muammer Ketencoğlu presents already almost forgotten music because also in Turkey global pop music continues to spread like an epidemic. His music is dedicated to the tradition of folk music, which comes from the orient and occident. Every week since 1995, he plays music with Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Greek, Macedonian, Jewish and nomadic roots in his nationwide radio show. He knows the cross-border diversity of the musical soul of Istanbul like no other and brings us together with folk musicians, who reflect the cultural richness of this melting pot.« (Mariko Takahashi and Stefan Winter)

Muammer Ketencoğlu, accordion, musical director
Şükrü Kabakcı, clarinet
Şakir Bedevi, vocals
Şuşan Kalataş, vocals
Ayşenur Kolivar, vocals
Kenan Yaşar, vocals, panduri
Şule Kocaman Saraç, vocals
Selda Koçak Uzuntaş, vocals
Gülay Diri, chants, daire
Aydın Çıracıoğlu, accordion
Tuba Özatalay, vocals
Emrullah Şengüller, cello
Serkan Mesut Halili, kanun, musical director
Sercan Halili, Istanbul kemençesi
Fındık Buse Katılmış, vocals
Erhan Uslu, bağlama, vocals
Volkan Yılmaz, ney
Erkan Kanat, percussion

Muammer Ketencoğlu
was born in Tire, Izmir in 1964. He learned to play accordion, piano and guitar at a school for the blind. He played popular music with accordion until 1986. When he was a student at Bosphorus University, Ketenoğlu had an interest in world folk music. Having initially focused on contemporary Greek music (Laika) and Rebetica, his affinity for other peoples’ folk music ultimately led him to discover his main field in the traditional music of the Balkans and Western Anatolia. Since 1995, Ketencoğlu has given numerous concerts with his ensembles such as “Muammer Ketemcoğlu and His Zeybek Ensemble”, “Balkan Journey” and “Muammer Ketencoğlu & Women Voices Ensemble” in Turkey and abroad including France, Greece, Bulgaria, Belgium, Holland, India, Austria, Israel, Brazil, Germany, Cyprus, and Macedonia. He has also participated in many workshops, and has given conferences in the world.

Ketencoğlu released his first album “Sevdalı Kıyılar” in 1993, and its selection albums, which were prepared with Rebetiko Music in 1994 and 1996. In 1995, he released four different cassettes “Halklardan Ezgiler”, which included traditional music of Armenian, Gurcistan, Azerbaycan and Central Asia. In 2001, he recorded his second album “Karanfilin Moruna-Anatolian Zeybeks” in cooperation with Cengil Onural. Ketencoğlu released “Ayde Mori” (2001) and “The Balkan Journey” (2007) with his group Balkan Journey Ensemble. In 2007, he released his fifth album “İzmir Hatırası-Smyrna Recollections,” which is a musical journey to the multicultural life of Izmir before the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. In 2010, his sixth album “Gezgin / The Traveler” was released. He has also collaborated with many artists, and has prepared numerous compilations such as “Rebetika”, “Rebetika II”, “Pioneers of the Kezmer Music”, “Halklardan Ezgiler”, “The Beauty of the Memory: Songs of Population Exchange” and “Folk Songs From Both Sides of Meric River”.

Booklet for Istanbul - Between Orient and Occident