Cheap Groove Alla Turca (Music) (Burhan Ocal, Jamaladeen Tacuma, Sultana) Price

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Customer Reviews of Groove Alla Turca

A masterful Turkish-Philadelphia collaboration
In recent years, there has been a trend in world music to take traditional genres and mix them up a bit with other styles of music, e.g., jazz or electronica. This album is a very successful part of that trend. I think the potential listener should take the title of this album very seriously. I will provide some explanation of the instruments in case you are as ignorant as I am about music from the Turkish tradition.
Let me run down who is playing first:
Jamaaladeen Tacuma, the great bassist who first came to note (at least, for me) as a member of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time.
Burhan Ocal, Turkish multi-instrumentalist and singer plays various percussion, tambourine, the saz (a string instrument related to the bouzouki) and sings.
Nathacha Atlas-singer.
Songul Artuk-singer.
Miles Griffith-rap vocals
Jack Walruth- trumpet (the last one to play with Charles Mingus and therefore a part of one of the world's great musical heritages.
Art Baron- trombone (Has played with everyone from Duke Ellington to Roswell Rudd to Stevie Wonder)
Daryl Burge- trap drums
Rick Iannacone- guitar. (excellent jazz guitarist from Philadelphia)
Ben Schachter- alto and tenor saxophone and flute. Another musical treat from Philly- see my review of his Fractals CD.
Huseyin Bitmez- oud (if you don't know what this is- shame on you! Simply one of the great instruments of the world).
Ekrim Basi- darbuka (a type of drum)
Ferdi Nadaz- clarinet
Fetih Tekyaygil- violin
Sahin Sert- kanun (zither)
Arif Erdebil- ney (an end blown flute)
Salih Nazim Peker- saz
There are some additional musicians but the above are the main ones. You should be able to get an idea of what this music will be like if you imagine classical Turkish musicians providing the basic rhythmic and harmonic structure with funky and very free Philly jazz guys soloing all the while being recorded with Euro-pop values. Very cool. Odd meters expressed by superb drummers with obbligato and solos by Americans and Turks who can do nothing but play wonderfully. Burge and Ocal play together like some powerful soulful rhythm machine. Tacuma is one of the greatest bass players alive and one of the few who is truly capable of playing it as a lead instrument as well as a rhythm instrument. Walrath is wonderful on this album. His playing has made me want to search out CDs under his own name.
For me the vocals are the weak part of the album. They are the part of the CD most under the influence of the Euro-pop production aesthetic I mentioned. I could have done without them but perhaps that judgment is just an expression of my own aesthetic limitations. The first reviewer obviously enjoys them and I bought this CD because I had a good feeling about his review. And I am glad I did. Give this CD a chance to get under your ears. This type and quality of musical collaboration is hopefully one of the directions that music will continue to develop in.

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BURHAN OCAL.....ETHNIC JAZZ...ORIENTAL ECHOS..
First of all let me tell the real name of this cd.I don't know why Amazon.com did not bother to write the whole name!!!.The name of the cd is "GROOVE ALLA TURCA".
Here we have again Burhan Ocal and friends..Who are they?In this album we also have Natacha Atlas and Jamaaladeen Tacuma(the American jazz guitarist).There are 12 tracks at this cd.There are some very good tracks..Such as Nihavend Longa and Saz Caz and El Nino..Burhan Ocal again plays the darbuka.Natacha Atlas's vocals are exceptional..
So who is BURHAN OCAL??
He was born in Kirklareli ,a town in Thrace.He was introduced to religious music by his mother and to percussion by his father.He also carries the influence of neo-classical Turkish music in his works.He is a master of many different drums ;such as darbuka, kos(kettledrum), kudum and bendir..Except these he can also play Turkish stringed instruments such as divan-saz,tanbur and oud.His first recording with Istanbul Oriental Ensemble "Gypsy Rum" won the 1995 German Record Critics Award.The second album "Sultan's Secret Door" won the same award in 1997.Öçal's solo disc of Turkish classical music of the 17th century titled "Ottoman Garden" received the 1996 Prix Choc award.(I also have a review of this cd)
Some of the tracks in this album are real old and famous Turkish classical songs but they are interpreted here in a jazz form.The poetry in the track called "Gene Gel" is from Mawlana Jalaud-din Rumi.
This album was released first in Turkey about 3 years ago.Unfortunately this global release is a bit late.Ocal also released a new album in Turkey called "SULTAN OSMAN".This album is also exceptionally good.An ethno-techno album with Pete Namlook.
Groove Alla Turca presents soulful, Oriental raps by the Egyptian pop singer Natasha Atlas.
A must for Ocal fans!!!!!!