Anthology of Kurdish Hymns

This album is more interesting for the repertoire than for its music. Kalan has always prided itself in releasing recordings of minority traditions in Turkey and this must be one of the most surprising. Şaban Ok is a Kurdish singer who writes and performs Christian hymns. And what he sings are newly written songs for the Protestant church, rather than anything for the ancient Syriac and Armenian churches of the region, which might be more interesting.

The instrumentation is principally plucked saz and percussion, with balaban, kaval (flute) or violin on some tracks. But the music itself isn’t particularly striking or noteworthy and some of the songs have an uncomfortably evangelical feeling – particularly the ‘Hallelujah!’s of ‘The One Who Sits on the Throne’. A curiosity.