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Yes, the title implies a fable; but what I'm going to
write you about is a true and pure story of friendship, a story regarding
this album in your hands which has been created by Derya
and Sokratis
without fanfare.
History and art have described two aspects of humanity
for centuries. While history has been shedding light on wars, empires
and treaties, art has chosen love, passion and collaboration as its subject.
Music has conveyed diverse emotions to our mind, transcending mere word
and color. Therefore, I want to believe that art and music have more strength
and staying power than the concept of nation and state which has made
a name for itself over the last five centuries through wars, assimilation
and cultural cleansing maneuvers and seems to give shape and direction
to our life today.
Based on the fact that all musical traditions of the
world are related is the need to acknowledge that a wide variety of musical
traditions developing in and around Anatolia for centuries are irrefutably
interrelated, drawn from the same ferment. Here you have an album that
conveys this spontaneous immediacy via superior interpretation, a work
shaped by painstaking effort of two friends. Theirs is not the kind of
friendship brought about by earthquakes, not the kind of duet marred by
fads or stench of money. Their friendship has developed and strengthened
over many years in private homes, during nights of playing and singing
together. It is a give-and-take that is not exclusively musical, but is
also nurtured by their well-tempered personalities.
This album draws on a carefully compiled repertoire comprised
of traditional Turkish and Greek folk tunes, zeybeks, sirtos and compositions
by individual artists (Nikriz Zeybek, Tanburi Cemil). Unpretentious and
passionate songs embellished with emotionally charged improvisations present
the sophisticated melding of tradition and playing of a professional caliber,
the dynamic creativity of two master musicians.
Sokratis is hailing from Greece, Derya is hailing from
Turkey. Yielding to the gravity of Anatolian music, they have found each
other; now they introduce to us this opus infused with their passion.
Efharisto Derya! Teşekkürler Sokratis! Thank you Anatolia!
Muammer Ketencoğlu 
11.27.2000
Derya Türkan and Sokratis Sinopoulos Ensemble
in Concert, Boston
Derya Türkan
Derya Türkan is a young master of classical
Turkish kemenche. He plays improvisational as well as the Ottoman classical
music repertoire.
Türkan was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1973. He
grew up in a musical family and his first music lessons were with the
well known Turkish cellist Firat Kiziltug. Türkan attended and graduated
from the Turkish Music Conservatory Instruments Education Department of
the Istanbul Technical University, where he studied with Ihsan
Özgen, an internationally recognized Turkish musician. In 1990,
Türkan was invited to perform as a guest musician by the Turkish
Cultural Ministry's Istanbul National Turkish Music Ensemble, directed
by Necdet Yasar.
In 1993 Türkan worked as a guest musician at Turkish
Radio Television, Istanbul Radio division for one year, where he earned
outstanding praise. He worked alongside such master musicians as Alâeddin
Yavasça, Bekir Sidki Sezgin, Niyazi Sayin, and Erol Deran. During
this time, he performed at many concerts both nationally and internationally
with well known groups such as the Necdet
Yasar Ensemble, and Ihsan Özgen`s Anatolia.
Türkan has given many concerts in the United
States, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium,
Poland, Greece, Israel and many other countries in addition to his native
Turkey.
In 1996, Türkan performed with Turkish ney player
Kudsi Ergüner at Yehudi Menuhin`s 80th birthday celebration concerts,
organized by French President Jacques Chirac, as an invited musician.
Türkan also has toured and recorded with Kudsi Ergüner's various
ensembles. Some of these projects include Ottoman Drums, Ottamania, IslamBlues
and La Banda Allaturka.
Like his teacher Ihsan
Özgen, Türkan aims to follow and develop the teachings of
one of this century's genius musicians, Tanburi Cemil Bey, and today continues
to work on different projects in his music career with this goal in mind.
Ahenk - Volume
1, Ahenk -
Volume 2 and Letter
from Istanbul are consequent steps towards Türkan's goal.
Sokratis Sinopoulos was born in 1974 in Athens; Greece.
His childhood was a very musical one, as he studied Western European classical
music on guitar. He also sang Byzantine and Greek folk music with the
I. Tsiamoulis Childrens' Chorus, with whom he toured Europe and recorded
two albums. At the age of 14,he met Ross Daly and began his studies of
kemençe, joining Daly's Labyrinth Ensemble a year later. Sinopoulos was
a member of Labyrinth for six years, performing concerts and recording
on many albums.
Sinopoulos was an active musician outside his involvement
with Labyrinth, working with several groups on Greek demotika and rebetika,
Byzantine and Turkish classical music, and western jazz. He also composed
scores for theater plays and modern dance. In 1997,he completed his Musicology
studies at a university in Athens, and began doctoral studies. He is currently
also an active member of several musical groups in Greece.
Producer: Ateş M.Temeltaş
Recorded in November 1999 in Istanbul
Mixed in April 2000 at Studio Aria, Nişantaşı, Istanbul
Mastered by Bora Ebeoğlu, May 2000 Bebek, Istanbul
Graphic Design: Şiir Özbilge -ilerix.com
One of the top 10 albums of 2002. Chris Williams,
Writer, fRoots
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