Hemdem

Hemdem means, literally, ‘breathe together’ and designates in Turkish one's best friend. But since dem also means ‘drone’ it could carry the sense of a deep friendship of a musical kind. Eroğlu became well-known after 2000 as the first modern virtuoso of Turkish kaval, a pastoral flute, but here he and Berberoğlu sing and play a variety of lutes and guitars – both fretted and fretless – in perfect unity. The repertoire is based on a selection of famous Turkish folk songs, from the early 16th-century Alevi poet Kul Himmet and 19th-century composer Tatyos Efendi to the 20th-century aşik (bard) Neşet Ertaş, whose songs open and close the disc. Such is the emotional intensity of the interpretation and the variety of timbres that the lack of a rhythm section is not felt; the duo also play with a strong feel for tempo throughout. Inspired by the folk reinterpretations of Erkan Oğur, the duo also add here and there a distorted electric guitar; it's startling at first, but in the long run makes sense and gives depth to the treatment of these classic songs. Excellent examples include the similarly structured reworkings of the classic ‘Bitlis’te Beş Minare’ and of the yearning ‘Aygiz’ by Azeri composer Cihangir Cihangirov.