Saz Power

Conceived by Demir Kerem Atay (who records under the name Elektro Hafiz), this compilation places the saz (lute) right in the middle of today's popular music, far from a reconstructed bucolic past. Murray Schafer taught us that loud and distorted sounds exorcise and conquer urban noise and in Istanbul's current soundscape there would be precious little space for the silvery filigree of unamplified saz, the classic instrument of the wandering Anatolian troubadour, or aşik. Adapting to the times, the saz went electric a long time ago, first in the paviyon (nightclub) and later in Anatolian rock. And today practitioners of traditional music often employ electrification or techniques inspired by Jimi Hendrix.

Drum-heavy opening tracks establish the atmosphere and set off the lilting rhythms of seminal band Baba Zula, with their trademark tongue-in-cheek humour. Listeners will also discover lesser-known musicians like the brilliant Cem Yildiz, of Orient Expression fame, master of the nocturnal and hypnotic groove. There's also Denmark-based band Hudna and Ozan Ata Canani, star of the gastarbeiter (Turkish workers who emigrated to Germany for work in the 1960s). Duble Salih, in the wedding classic Atim Arap', gloriously closes this excellent project that grows on you with repeated listenings.