Search - Turku :: Ozlem

Turku
Ozlem
Genre: International Music

Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
1. Hicaz Dolap
2. Al Fadimem
3. Kaytagi
4. Ozlem
5. Aksaray'in Taslari
6. Cokertme
7. Havada Bulut Yok
8. Drum Solo
9. Majnun Nabudom
10. Penceresi Yola Karsi

CD Details

All Artists: Turku
Title: Ozlem
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Hittite Sun
Original Release Date: 8/3/2004
Re-Release Date: 8/10/2004
Genre: International Music
Style:
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 634479026553

Synopsis

Album Description

TURKU's third full-length CD, Ozlem, evolved over a period of four years, following the release of "Nomads of the Silk Road" in 2000. The title track, Ozlem, was concieved by Ted Monnich at an annual Pennsylvania festival, Pennsic 29. Ted and Farzad composed its passionate arrangement, in a Tashkent hotel, while on tour in Uzbekistan in 2001, only a week before the World Trade Center disaster. In the following years TURKU worked through the album's songs and arrangements while touring across North America. The resulting collection of songs is rememiscent of "Alley of Istanbul's," their first album, energy. Ozlem is heavy on Turkish melodies that speak to and inspire the soul. The word "Ozlem" in Turkish means "longing." The intensity and emotions of this album shine forth through its songs, eliciting a miriad of emotional responses from the listener. One thing is certain with TURKU, however. When they play, no one can ever sit still.

CD Reviews

Turku's Turkish Tunes and Dances

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel | Oakland, CA USA | 07/14/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having owned Turku's first two albums, the surprising Alleys of Istanbul and the, well, rockin' Nomads of the Silk Road, I wondered if their third album would match my expectations. Turku, which hail from South Carolina, play traditionial Turkish instruments (various saz fiddles, tar and ud lutes, violin, and frame and hourglass drums). While the second recordings were more afield in musics of the Anatolian and Caspian areas, the musicians here focus, with one expection, on regions within Turkey. The distinctions of the folk tunes from Istabul, Afyon, Mugla, and Aegean locales provide interest. These are mainly dance pieces, beautifully performed, from stately to spritely in tempo. Some tunes are strangely familiar, for the Ottomans have had musical infuence throughout the Near East and even into Western Europe. Although I still regard Turku's second album as the best of the three, Özlem is still very fine. Listening to it, we can imagine ourselves visiting the various villages and joining in the dances."

Pulsating rhythmns

Alan A. Elsner | Washington DC | 09/28/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know a great deal about Turkish music "but I know what I like." This pulsating collection of classic tunes from the country that is a bridge between Europe and Asia will have anyone shaking their hips."