Turkish / Romani cds

Asena Turkish Orientale
If you are a Raks Sharki performer and you do not own this album, buy it. Actually, chances are you
do own this album, in one of its innumerable pirate forms. I have seen four Arabic pirates, but the
music is obviously, obviously Turkish; and in fact I was wonderfully fortunate to see Asena herself
perform in Istanbul. The album exhibits brilliant Raks Sharki composition: seamless tempo and
rhythmic shifts, use of highly danceable riffs, and consistantly high energy. Maqsum, ayub, sai’idi,
ciftetelli both slow and fast, and masmoudi make appearances. Violin, clarinet, and qanun in a smooth
modern mix carry most of the album, but zurna, saz, nei, and accordion make appearances.
Darbouka, riq, daff, zills, and davul fill the percussion section nicely. The musicians are adequately
skilled, but there are no intense taksims or ripping drum solos to show off the instruments. There are
several drum solos: these are highly crafted to fit the dancer rather than to offer the drummer a
chance to cut loose. Overall, one of the most professional dance albums I have ever had the pleasure
to own (and use, extensively).
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Excellent
Drum use: Great

Bazaar Istanbul: Music of Turkey
You can discern a lot about this album with a quick glance at the track listings: it’s a selection of tunes
from a limited number of artists. Fortunately, these guys are some of the best Turkish traditional
musicians out there, so it’s great music: kind of like a “best of” for Huseyin Turkmenler and Ahmet
Kusgoz combined. Personally, I think Huseyin Turkmenler’s “Turkish Bellydance: Nasrah” is so
absolutely off-the-charts phenomenal that his “greatist hits” album would be identical to Nasrah. Bazaar
Istanbul is an excellent album, no question: the deep bass on the slow ciftetelli, the raw skill of the
taksims and fast 9/8, the rough grit on the 9/8, and the pronounced danceability of certain tracks make
this a fantastic buy if you’re unwilling to invest in the half dozen or so albums this one draws from.
And track 11 contains one of my favorite fiddle solos ever, to a cheerful, fast ciftetelli and maqsum.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Good
Drum use: Excellent

Bellydancing with Ozel Turkbas, Alla Turca Turkish Orientale
This album suffers from two major flaws: poor production quality and lack of virtuousity. The mix
sorely lacks low end. The musicians are adequate without being impressive or noteworthy. Occasional
lackadaisical spoons, paltry zils, basic bass, and unremarkable darbouka play a nice range of rhythms,
including several karsilamas. Kanun, oud, violin, and clarinet (in unevenly mixed levels) suffice for the
melodies, but fail to add any zazz in >shrug< taksims. Familiar songs, such as Rompi Rompi, are
rendered somewhat sleepy. I do not recommend this album for use in dance or drumming or for pleasure
in listening, but the album does have instructional value in that the songs are good examples of acceptable
(though unimpressive) Turkish Orientale.
Overall: Paltry
Danceability: Moderate
Drum Use: Not

Café Makam Turkish Orientale
The sound quality is fairly campy, the energy level moderate at best; but the cd has a few redeeming
values. The band clearly knows what it’s doing: the oudist has great feeling if terrible electronics; the
compositions show tight transitions and a light touch when needed; and the kanun player is clearly
skilled. Two competent karsilamas and a nice Orientale laz appear. The extended set, “New Solo
Dance”, which from the title would be taken as a dance routine, is in fact a long series of drawn out
taksims over a slow ciftetelli. (Thirteen minutes is noteworthy if not a record for this kind of track.)
Despite its good features, I would not recommend this album to anyone but a diehard enthusiast who
already owns a lot of Turkish music and might enjoy the laz and taksims.
Overall: Minimal
Danceability: Moderate
Drum Use: Minimal

Gypsies of Turkey, Ahmet Kusgoz Ve Arkadaslari Turkish Romani folkloric
The sound is classic Turkish Romani: darboukas, riq, fiddle, kanun, and clarinet. The mood is primarily
serious. There is only a brief drum solo (as the entrance of Gecemiz), but percussion is heavy and
extremely skilled. Clarinet and fiddle take most of the taksims, with a virtuoso clarinet performance
utilizing overtone harmonics in Gecemiz. 9/8 of several forms and ciftetelli are the main rhythms.
There are no vocals.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: folkloric only, excellent
Drum Use: Great

Gypsy Rum, Burhan Ocal and the Istanbul Oriental Ensemble Turkish Romani
Polished but authentic Turkish Romani music. Many tracks are slow and laid back, but several are
highly energetic. Maqsum and ciftetelli are the main rhythms, with one 9/8. Kanun, oud, clarinet, and
fiddle play the melodies with frequent taksims. There is an insane drum solo demonstrating the
heavy-finger, snapwork style. (In the course of the drum solo, Mr Ocal reaches inside the darbouka
and plays rolls on the inside surface of the drumhead.)
Overall: Great
Danceability: Moderate
Drum use: Excellent

Oriental Dance from Turkey, Huseyin Turkmenler Turkish folkloric
This is an extremely skilled band, including clarinet, fiddle, darbouka, kanun, riq, and oud, with
occasional zils. This album contains several wonderful fast fiddle and clarinet taksims; a brief but
inspirational drum solo more suited for drummers than dancers; a lovely rendition of Fire Dance;
a compelling fast and rough 9/8; a suspenseful slow 9/8; an extremely loose Aziza with taksims;
and the authoritative "Rumeli Karislama". The rest is mainly fast ciftetellis and maqsum. The
sound is seriously Turkish.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Great (Excellent folkloric)
Drum use: Moderate

Caravanserai, Burhan Ocal and the Istanbul Oriental Ensemble
Turkish and Romani folk music
A carefully crafted musical journey, as promised by the cd jacket. The album contains a variety of
rhythms and tempos, including a lovely slow 7/8, fast 9/8, ciftetelli, open 4/4, and various maqsum
(including “walking”).   The transitions are smooth, each song clearly well-planned. The songs are
mainly slower than those on many Turkish traditional albums. The musicianship is impeccable, with
excellent solos by nei, oud, and fiddle. The qanun taksims are brilliant compositionally and technically,
incorporating techniques such as simultaneous bass and treble, harp-like sounds by playing without
mizrab, and bending notes by adjusting the tuning switches while playing. There is one drum solo track; having seen Burhan Ocal
live, I bought the album specifically for this solo. He is an absolute master darbouka player who employs the finger-heavy,
frequent-snap style. The drum solo on this album is impressive, but I actually prefer his drum solo on Gypsy Rum. While many of
the tracks on Caravanserai could be used in Raks Sharki, the music is best suited for listening rather than dancing.   The feeling is
generally pensive, and the sheer virtuosity of the musicians is astounding.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Moderate
Drum use: Excellent

Sultan’s Secret Door, Burhan Ocal Turkish traditional
An album of fasil – Turkish semi-classical music that is suitable for dancing. Each track consists of an
introductory taksim, brief presentation of the melodic line, a series of taksims, and repetition of the
melodic line one or more times. The taksims are the meat of each track. The instruments are
darbouka, riq, kanun, violin, clarinet, saz, and oud. Most (but certainly not all) tracks are slow to
moderate in tempo, using mainly maqsum and ciftetelli, with one moderately slow 9/8 (with zurna) and
one extremely intense 7/8 (saz and oud). The musicians are highly skilled. “Fasulye” is a driving
malfuf, one of two tracks with vocals. Also of note is an absolutely crazy violin taksim midway
through “Sultaniyegah Sirto” (6/8). Generally speaking, only the end part of a given fasil is traditionally
reserved for dancing, but a dancer could use almost any of these tracks as a series of connected
taksims.
Overall: Great
Danceability: Moderate
Drum use: Moderate

Turkish Bellydance, Nasrah, Ensemble Huseyin Turkmenler
Same instrumentation and unmistakably Turkish feeling as “Oriental Dance from Turkey”. This
album is mainly high tempo and has a number of memorable tracks. “Kalardo/Sallasana Medilini”,
nine minutes long, starts as a slow, juicy, heavy karsilama with davul, gradually increases tempo,
and transforms into a fast malfuf. “Tekirdag Karsilamasi” is an excellent fast 9/8, and “Mastika”
is perfectly rendered in a dark, serious, suspensful mood. The album is worth buying for any one
of these tracks alone, and most especially for the drum solo “Percussion Improvisation / Konyali”
by a pair of doumbeks backed by riq and bass. The drum solo is too impossibly fast to dance to,
but has highly inspirational shifts, feeling, and technique that drummers will love.
Overall: Excellent
Danceability: Great (Excellent folkloric)
Drum use: Excellent

Turkish Bellydance: Secret of My Heart, Huseyin Turkmenler Turkish orientale
Nei and keyboard are present, clarinet and davul are absent. Saz, accordion, and zurna are
introduced, though they are used relatively sparsely. The sound is still very Turkish, but has lost
its edge and much of its Romani feel. There are no karsilamas; rhythms are mostly maqsum and
ciftetelli with the occasional malfuf. These songs are very well-suited for Raks Sharki; they
contain few stops or accents, but lots of shifts and taksims (in other words, it’s Turkish
orientale). “Azize” is typical: the familiar riffs are a bit fuzzed, and a long, moderate ciftetelli part
is introduced midway through, with violin taksim.
Overall: Good
Danceability: Excellent (but few stops)
Drum use: Moderate

Istanbul Geceleri 4 Turkish orientale
Enstrumantel / Turkish Oriental Dances
The actual songs are traditional Turkish oriental, but the sound is about as electronic as it gets. Keyboard
imitates various Turkish melodic instruments; the drums (drumset, bass drum, and zils) are also canned.
Periodic drum riffs, often used as intro’s, are canned and painfully cheezy. There’s some (not much)
energy, but the tempo is almost invariable. Some tracks are poorly cut; all are 1 to 3 minutes. Most songs
are malfuf or maqsum; ciftetelli and two 9/8 make appearances. I really can’t recommend this album to anyone – it’s
bellydance Muzak.
Overall: Almost completely irredemable (the cheezy karsilamas are kind of fun)
Danceability: Sure, but I don’t know why you’d want to
Drum use: None