Lingo Lingo Siseler, from "Lingo Lingo" - GHP 012-2

Barbaros Erköse Ensemble

The nature of the Gypsy is to travel and Gypsy (or Rom) music, with it’s diverse range of influences, reflects these journeys through the cultures of many nations. As our world shrinks, our music and we become increasingly touched and influenced through our travels through the rhythms and melodies of the world. Our ears become open to new sounds as jazz, reggae, world beat, hip-hop and all the many, many old and new musics of the world intermingle. The most open and innovative musicians create new languages out of traditional forms of expression. New vernaculars mingle with ancient idioms crossing cultural boundaries while retaining their original passion and flavor to create some of the most interesting and vibrant music of our times.

Turkish born clarinet virtuoso Barbaros Erköse is among the many skilled performers who are collaborating with other musicians from all over the world to explore new ways to nurture the growth of a world music rooted in many soils. Not content to rest upon his laurels as a respected classical Turkish and Rom musician, Erköse seeks out projects that dissolve the boundaries of nations and genres. His collaboration with New York born and bred jazz trombonist Craig Harris, Istanbul/Craig Harris & The Nation of Imagination featuring Barbaros Erköse (Pozitif Imaj 1998), is his latest journey into a land inhabited by jazz, hip hop, reggae, African and Turkish music (among others).

Erköse, aware of the power of the past, has not abandoned his roots or his love of Gypsy music in his quest for new idioms. He still performs the traditional Turkish folk music (Gypsy or Rom music) that first made him famous. With the Barbaros Erköse Ensemble he has brought the passionate sounds of Gypsy music beyond the borders of Turkey to Europe and North America.

Live, whether sharing the stage with American jazz or traditional Turkish musicians, Erköse embraces and incites the audience with the vitality and passion of Turkish and Gypsy music. He balances out the great celebratory joy of Gypsy music with the melancholy of jazz, euphoria with a touch of the blues. While his passion makes his performances more than energetic enough to keep hips swaying in bacchanalian celebration, his finesse and subtlety makes him capable of holding a concert hall enthralled. Though his roots are Turkish and Rom, Erköse is a citizen of the world and his music speaks a language that captivates people of all cultures.