Selim Sesler & Grup Trakya'nin Sesi - Roads to the Kesan (Regional and Gypsy Music from Thrace) (1999)

Posted By : SCR09 | Date : 29 Sep 2009 11:28:55 | Comments : 5 |

Selim Sesler & Grup Trakya'nin Sesi - Roads to the Kesan (Regional and Gypsy Music from Thrace)
EAC | FLAC+Cue+Log | World, Ethnic, Gypsy Music | 431 MB
Label: Kalan Records | Release Date: 1999

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Roads to Keşan-Selim Sesler and The Sounds of Thrace Ensemble: This recording is offered as a portrayal of the musical diversity found in Thrace's Keşan and surrounding villages. Turkish Thrace is a fertile region for music, dance and celebration, and every area has its own unique flavor. Through the musical lens of the local traditional ince çalgı ensemble performance, this album provides an overview of different kinds of instrumental and vocal-derived instrumental pieces found in this area, focusing on music typically heard at weddings and seasonal celebrations. Under the leadership of master clarinetist Selim Sesler, featuring Nusret Şute on violin Turan Gümüş on cümbüş, Bülent Sesler on kanun, Ramadan Borozan on davul, and Selahattin Koçan on darbuka, this album brings the lively and moving sounds of Thrace into your listening space.

Kesan: A typical Thracian town, Keşan has a population of 42,000 residents and nearly 70,000 including the surrounding villages. Now the area is crisscrossed by roads which connect the surrounding 49 villages and forge links to other towns in Thrace, the Saros gulf to the west, and the Marmara coast to the east. Until the end of the 1970s, however, villages remained isolated due to the absence of paved roads. Residents remember walking 7-8 hours to other villages and the town of Keşan, or using various kinds of animal-pulled carts. These factors and the tendency to marry within one's group, have contributed to the way in which members of the various communities in the area maintain distinct cultural practices, such as diverse languages and linguistic dialects, ritual practices, dress, cuisine, music and dance repertoire. Since the 1980s, the rate of cultural interchange between Keşan and surrounding villages has accelerated, due to ease of transportation, the decreased demand for manual farming techniques with the introduction of the tractor which freed up the young to pursue work and leisure life in the town, and an overall increase in urban migration. However, even by the late 1990s, individuals still identify themselves according to their parent's village or the neighborhood that they grew up in. Accordingly, members of each community identify with a distinct corpus of ritual music and dance repertoire, in addition to having incorporated borrowed and newer material.

The diversity of community groups in the Keşan region is typical of Thrace and parts of the Marmara region and Saros gulf. In Keşan these groups are designated according to the group's historical mother tongue and geographical origins as well as ethnicity. Thus Gacals consist of both indigenous Turkish speakers and those Turkish speakers who immigrated from Bulgaria or Greece. Pomaks are subdivided into "Bulgar Pomak" and 'Pomak" or "Yunan Pomak", designating groups which are Slav-speaking Muslim from Bulgaria or Greece, respectively. There are also small groups of "Macir" ("Muhacir'=designating Muslim who immigrated from Romania in the 1930s); Turkish-speaking Muslim from Greece; Albanians; and Bosnians. Various types of Roman (the name preferred by Western Turkish Roma or Gypsy groups) are also a vital component of Ke$an area cultural life. These are self-designated by region of origin such as Dramahlar (those from Drama, Greece); Serezliler (those from Serres, Greece); yerliler (those who lived in the area prior to the 1923 population exchange); or by traditional occupation, such as Qalgacilar (professional musicians); demirciler (metal workers); hasırcılar (straw mat weavers); cambazlar (livestock traders); pazarcılar (itinerant vendors); hamallar (porters). Two major waves of migration brought residents into the area: the upheavals of the Crimean War brought Muslim Pomaks and Gacal from Bulgaria, and the implementation of the terms of the Lausanne Treaty in 1923-1924 moved local Greek Christian residents from Ke$an to Eastern Greece, while Muslim Gacal, Pomak and Roman populations from Drama, Serez and Kayalar areas of Greece were settled in Keşan's surrounding villages and the town itself. In addition, other waves occurred as the result of the Balkan war a well as pursuit of better economic opportu nities, with Albanians, Bosnians, Greek Muslims and Romanians settling in the Keşan area.

Professional Musicians and Ensembles in the Keşan Area: Since the period of relative isolation up to the more mobile present, professional Roman musicians have been an essential cultural link between the various populations, while preserving the traditional musical ritual integrity of these various groups. While living in neighborhoods within Keşan, musicians travel throughout the area to villages and nearby towns, providing music which is essential for family and community ritual celebrations. Throughout the period of increased media dissemination of music through radio, commercial records and cassettes, musicians provided the music that the particular village or community has passed down through the generations, along with regional interpretations of contemporary popular music. Thus professional musicians are a living archive of the past and present cultural practices of the clients which they serve.

Music for life cycle celebrations and community entertainment are provided by four types of ensembles: solo voice and daire or sometimes darbuka; davul-zurna ensembles; ince çalgı; and orkestra. Solo or group singing accompanied by a large frame drum called daire existed until recently within communities. Until the late 1980s, some communities continued to hire Roman female singer soloists called Qengi who accompanied themselves with daire for celebrations. Davul-zurna ensembles consist of two zurna (a double-reed folk oboe-type instrument) and one davul (a double-headed bass drum, played with a heavy stick on the thick skin head, and a thin wand on the thin head). In Ke?an, these are played by Roman professional musicians who came from the Drama and Serres areas of Greece. Orkestra or piyanist-şantör is a recent phenomenon since the 1980s which designates solo singers who accompany themselves on synthesizers which are programmed to play contemporary arabesk, fantazi pieces as well as traditional and modern dance music repertoire. While there are now eighty orkestras in Ke$an and surrounding village areas, customers will supplement the hired orkestra with an ince çalgı or davul-zurna ensemble at weddings, in order to provide the local older traditional repertoire still in demand.

Instruments:
Violin:Nusret Sute
Quanun:Bulent Sesler
Cumbush:Turan Gumus
Circle:Ramadan Borazan
Drum:Ramadan Borazan
Darbuka:Selahattin Kocan
Clarinet:Selim Sesler

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Track List:
1. Kiremit Bacalari / Nasti Usava
2. Kina Havasi / Gelin Alma Havasi
3. Bir Sari Yilan
4. Ali Pasa
5. Biber Yedim
6. Aci Meleke
7. Babo
8. Istifalka / Gelserek / Arzu Ile Kamber
9. Tulum
10. Patrona / Samiotisa
11. Hanim Ayse
12. Sari Gulum Var Benim / Mahmut Koy Karsilamasi
13. Nikriz Sirto
14. Alay Bey
15. Kampana Mori Mitro