Karsilama

From a Turkish word meaning ‘meeting’ or ‘welcome’ comes the title of this resolutely acoustic album. The trio, based on two Italian guitarists and Kurdish musician Ashti Abdo, share duties on a variety of string instruments - Kurdish saz-like tanbur, Brazilian violão de choro, prepared and classical acoustic guitar. Abdo adds variety with vocals, percussion, duduk, and marranzano (Sicilian Jew's harp). Taking in influences from Azerbaijan to Tunisia via Anatolia, Greece and the Balkans, the trio aim to create a new, integrated and original music with traditional sounds and free-ranging improvisation. It's an ambitious project indeed with such a huge terrain to cover, and the idea doesn't always gel into a satisfying whole; keeping the pieces more compact would have given the music more punch.

When it works the results are exhilarating: the project seems especially successful in rearranging ‘world music standards’ like ‘Astrakan Café’ by Anouar Brahem and ‘Masar’ by Le Trio Joubran. As can be expected, the traditional Kurdish songs sung intensely by Abdo are the highest points of an album full of good ideas and great music but somewhat lacking a clear direction.