By Ann Treacy
The James J Hill Library and KFAI host World Live, a monthly series that brings international sounds with a Minnesota connection to the hallowed hall of the Hill Reference Library. They started out 2016 with hot music on a cold night with On the Way to Uskudar and Other Country Quartet.
On the Way to Uskudar plays Turkish and Balkan music. The trio (Yigitcan Eryaman, Nickolai Kolarov, and Stephen Spaise) includes two members originating from that part of the world. Kolarov told a story about the festive music of Roma Gypsies, which sounded like a lead up to the next song until he explained that since they weren’t Roma Gypsies, they just couldn’t do the music justice so they’d be playing something Balkan. It’s a sentiment that speaks to appreciation for music, love of the heritage and the heart of a natural teacher. (Kolarov has a regular program on KFAI featuring Balkan music.) The story also emphasizes the quality of the music they do play. Kolarov especially seems to hit a beatific trance while playing.
The instruments are mostly classical – guitar, cello, bouzouki, and drums, but the sound is traditional. The songs are sung in their native language. It’s interesting to learn the meaning of the lyrics after the songs are performed; the tune doesn’t always match the story. They played a Balkan song based on a melody they explained was popular among several communities in the region. It sounded festive until we learned that the lyrics told the story of a prisoner in jail who becomes a drug addict. No matter – the plaintive cello, the string of upbeats, the tempo of the drums are dreamy and seductive.
They played to an appreciative crowd. You feel transported when you realize that half of the audience is singing along to the Turkish lyrics. And clearly several audience members would have bene happier belly dancing than sitting in their seats. In fact by the last song, several were up and moving.
Other Country Quartet (Scott Nieman, Greg Herriges, Stephen Spaise and David Stenshoel ) is a segment of a larger Minneapolis-based band (Other Country Ensemble) that plays music from different regions using a diverse range of instruments including oude, bouzouki, drums, violin and more. They aren’t afraid to enhance the traditional with special effects that add a psychedelic undercurrent. They are entirely instrumental – with a brief cameo voice appearance in the last song with Herriges singing through his bouzouki, which is a great chanting sound.
They played a couple of songs from Greece, where the dueling bouzoukis seemed to chase each other in a sort of dance led by drumming. There were Armenian songs with a repetition of tunes that made the songs immediately familiar and showed off the sweetness of the violins. As they played, I could hear the influence the traditional folk music has on many rock bands. So it was just perfect when they started to plan Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir. It was a great way to bridge the new with something iconic to an American audience.
World Live will be broadcast on KFAI, and it is a monthly series at the Hill Reference Library.
http://www.onthewaytouskudar.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OtherCountryEnsemble/
http://kfai.org/balkanjamboree
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