Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Brian Keane + Omar Faruk Tekbilek: Fire dance 1990



OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK

 Omer Faruk Tekbilek (Turkish: Omer Faruk Tekbilek, born 1951) is a Turkish musician and composer, who plays a wide range of wind, string, percussion and electronic instruments. He has developed a style that builds on traditional Sufi music, but includes inspiration from ambient electronic musicians, most notably Brian Keane. He is best known for his performances with the flute-like ney, but also plays the piccolo-like kaval, and the double-reed zurna. Among stringed instruments, he plays the oud and the baglama.


Tekbilek's father was a Turk, a religious man who called out the prayers during services in a mosque. His mother was from Egypt, and her love of the music of Reyad Elsonbaty was passed to her son, who grew up loving Arabesque music. As a young man, Faruk had studied Sufism and had thought of devoting his life to this mystical branch of Islam. At age 15, he decided to become a professional musician, and quit school. With his brother, he moved to Istanbul, where he befriended a mystical saxophone player named Ismet Siral, who had developed an approach to music based upon intuition: "He would say things like, let's play for birds, let's play for pictures".


In 1971, Tekbilek toured the United States with a Turkish folk ensemble and met his future wife. After completing his compulsory military service in Turkey, Tekbilek returned to America and found few opportunities for a musician of his training.

BRIAN KEANE

 Brian Keane (born January 18, 1953) is an American composer, music producer, and guitarist. He has composed the music for hundreds of films and television shows and produced over a hundred record albums. Keane is known as a world class guitarist, a musical pioneer in scoring music for television documentaries, a leading record producer of the 1980s and 1990s, and one of the most prominent and influential composers of his era.


Keane has scored well over one hundred award-winning documentaries and films, including eighteen Emmy winners for best documentary or series (among sixty seven nominations), nine Peabody Award-winning films, six Oscar nominated films, and one Academy Award-winning film Keane has won four Emmy Awards out of twenty nominations.


As a record producer, Keane has produced over three dozen Billboard charting albums with over 150 commercial albums in total. He is particularly known for producing ethnic and new-age music. Keane's many credits as a producer include Winter Solstice for Windham Hill Records, the Grammy Award-winning Long Journey Home: The Irish in America soundtrack album for RCA Records and his influential work with middle eastern musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek.

FIRE DANCE

 Fire Dance is a natural progression from Suleyman. A plethora of Middle Eastern and North African instruments has been blended with synthesizers, guitar, and sophisticated orchestrations. The focus of Fire Dance has been expanded beyond Turkey, to include music from North African, Egyptian, and other Middle Eastern and Arabic sources. This recording begins with the sound of the desert wind in Somewhere in the Sahara.

Faruk’s enchanted ney enters from the distance with flourishes of goat bells. Orchestrations sneak in and build to a guitar solo with lavish synthesizer effects. The whole track then dissolves into Oglan Boyun, as if we have traveled over a dune and discovered a village in celebration, surrounded by the vast desert. As Oglan Boyun ends, we are left with Faruk’s haunting voice floating out of the wind in A Call to Prayer. This soulful segment gives way to a magical ney section orchestrated to depict a garden of earthly delights. Faruk’s voice returns in a powerful whirlwind of sound, followed by the drifting Desert Twilight. Brian’s guitar opens this melodic piece with a rich, peaceful introduction. Faruk enters on the ney in an expansive and warm tone, complemented in the bridge by the baglama, adding an Eastern flavor. The music fades, leaving the listener with serenely quiet beauty evoking the title, Desert Twilight. A Passage East is a showcase for both
Faruk’s impeccable percussion and Brian’s superb guitar chops. In Song of the Pharaohs, the wind and Faruk’s haunting ney return to create the mystical impression of the distant time of the ancient pharaohs’ rule. Enchanted by elaborate orchestrations, flourishes of windchimes, the voices of strangers, distant horns, and synthesizers that seem to defy conventional spatial dimensions, this piece assumes a psychedelic atmosphere. Beledy introduces us to the zurna, an oboe-like instrument with a very distinctive Middle Eastern sound. This composition is in the Arabic style, featuring very strong passages. Fire Dance is an energetic piece that demonstrates why Tekbilek and Keane are at the forefront of their respective musicial fields and the magical fertility of their collaboration. Ask is a contemporary Middle Eastern standard showcasing Faruk’s proficiency on the oud. Village Song is a traditional Turkish folk song in 9/8 meter featuring Faruk on percussion.
Modern Mystics brings the two musicians/composers together, on ney and guitar, in a meditative

setting. Sahara (Reprise), with Brian on guitar, was an out take that was too special to leave off this recording. Spirit of Ancestors shows a deep mystical side with Faruk’s powerful, searching voice. Halay concludes the recording with an uplifting, joyous celebration and driving rhythm. With Fire Dance, Omar Faruk Tekbilek and Brian Keane have created a unique recording that embraces many moods, at once energetic and meditative, mystical and joyous. Imbued with grace, this music transports the listener to a magical land where patterns of rich Middle Eastern traditions are joined in music. Fire Dance is an adventure in transformation from which there is no turning back.
( Read HERE: )


TRACKS

01.a. Somewhere In The Sahara
Written-By – Brian Keane, Omar Faruk Tekbilek  2:30
01.b. Oglan Boyun
Arranged By – Brian KeaneWritten By – Traditional  5:11
01.c. A Call To Prayer
Written-By – Brian Keane, Omar Faruk Tekbilek  5:20
02. Desert Twilight
Written-By – Brian Keane  5:11
03. A Passage East
Written-By – Brian Keane  3:06
04. Song Of The Pharaohs
Arranged By – Brian KeaneWritten By – Traditional  5:57
05. Beledy
Written-By – Omar Faruk Tekbilek  5:27
06. Fire Dance
Arranged By – Brian Keane, Omar Faruk TekbilekWritten By – Traditional  5:27
07. Ask
Arranged By – Brian Keane, Omar Faruk TekbilekWritten-By – S. Sagbas  6:24
08. Village Song
Arranged By – Brian Keane, Omar Faruk TekbilekWritten By – Traditional  4:16
09. Modern Mystics
Written-By – Brian Keane, Omar Faruk Tekbilek  2:59
10. Sahara (Reprise)
Written-By – Brian Keane  1:16
11. Spirit Of The Ancestors
Written-By – Omar Faruk Tekbilek  5:31
12. Halay
Arranged By – Brian KeaneWritten-By – Traditional  5:56

at

No comments:

Post a Comment