Music in today's northwest Turkey can be divided into three main divisions: traditional folk music, Turkish classical music and western-influenced music, whether religious or not. The selections in this collection are all non-religious and they cover the first two of these main divisions. Musicologists still argue as to the exact origins of today's Turkish folk music, Suffice it to say that the richness of Turkey's cultural heritage owes much to its unique location, which many tribes and civilisations have occupied and passed through. Certainly the music here would have struck a chord with the courts of the Seljuklu Empire (11th-13th centuries) and the early period Ottoman Empire (14th-16th centuries). Ottoman Turkish music and its intricate structure has long been a revelation to foreigners and Turks alike. Learning and teaching music in the Ottoman Empire was done through memorizing and constant practising guided by a master, which means that little sheet music exists. As a result, the music here has a direct link to a distant and mysterious past that few others can offer.
P**N
EXCELLENT COMPILATION
A superb, and in some ways groundbreaking set of four CD's tracing the very early history of recorded Turkish music - 97 rarities, the likes of which you have only rarely heard before, if at all; nicely remastered, accompanied by somewhat brie notes and no recording dates, but nevertheless, a real winner
F**Z
Sheer delight.
Like all the jsp collections, each track has been lovingly and painstakingly remastered, so that is possible to lose yourself in the music and forget the limitations of the early recording technology. There's little point in trying to convey how magnificent, astounding. entrancing the songs and instrumentals contained on this set: suffice to say, if you have an ear that yearns for transcendent sound, you'll not be disappointed with these four discs.
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