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Carrefour de la Méditerranée
Crossroads of the Mediterranean Throughout its history, the Mediterranean on all its shores has been a region where ideas, inspiration, and beliefs were exchanged, whether through coalitions and friendships between kingdoms and peoples or conflict and domination between empires. These exchanges took place in the various social strata as well as in many spheres, such as in culture, science, and politics. Over the millennia before the Christian era, music had always held a place of choice among the peoples who inhabited the Mediterranean region and the East: the Sumerian-Babylonian, the Assyrian, Egyptian, Phoenician, Carthaginian, Cretan, Greek, and Roman. These nations set the foundations of an art music and a great heritage that would be transmitted from generation to generation till the Middle Ages, at which point in time three main musical civilizations could be distinguished: Arab-Muslim, Byzantine, and Western European. From the sixteenth century, though, each kingdom and area acquired a more distinct cultural identity; music took the same route, yet always keeping something of a common heritage. The works performed on this disc reflect both this common heritage and the various forms of its lineage. They come from the Ottoman, Byzantine, Castilian, and Persian musical traditions. Some of the works were found in manuscripts written in alphanumeric, neumatic, or ekphonetic notation. Bousalik Pishrow is a composition by Dimitrius Cantemir (1673-1723), who stands among the great historical figures from the East. He led a life of travel, migration, and exile. He was a Moldavian prince as well as Knaez of Russia. Cantemir was active as an authority in history, philosophy, theology, diplomacy, geography, ethnology, literature, and most importantly for us, music. He played the tanbour (an Ottoman plucked stringed instrument) admirably, he composed masterpieces, and invented a style of notation that served his purposes and assured the survival of his own works as well as of some 300 works he knew and played. Té aidonia tis Anatolis is a sixteenth-century song recalling the birds of Anatolia. Although secular, this song is found in two manuscripts from the monasteries of Iviron (codex 1203) and Xiropotamou (codex 262) on Mount Athos. This song is also encountered in the repertoire from the Thrace region of Greece, where it has survived through oral tradition, explains Thomas Apostolopoulos, PhD in Byzantine musicology. Zakharia Khanendeh (1680-1750) was another great master of art music from this tradition. Of Greek Orthodox ascent, he lived in Istanbul (Constantinople) and worked there as a singer and composer. Reflecting the cosmopolitan society of his time, his music is a very personal synthesis of Ottoman, Persian, and Byzantine art music. He composed and sang ecclesiastical music as well as classical Ottoman music. Houseyni Agir Semai is one of his masterworks. The Cantigas de Santa Maria manuscript, of which several copies survive, represents the epitome of one of the richest Mediterranean medieval musical phenomena by its formal and thematic coherence, its breadth, and the great beauty of its miniatures. For its elaboration, Alfonso X enlisted some thirty artists in the fields of poetry, music, calligraphy, and illumination. Coordinating and supervising the work of these artists, he was himself active in the artistic creation of these cantigas. It is well worth noting that the artists with whom Alfonso surrounded himself were from three different religionsûChristian, Muslim, and Jewishûand that they all practiced their art together in perfect harmony, despite their differences. For this recording, we have revisited three songs from this great collection. Another extremely rich historical musical body of work is that of Byzantine chant, which counts nearly a million manuscript pages of music. Byzantine musical notation, principally ekphonetic, appeared in the third century and has developed to this day. The chant presented here is part of the Holy Week liturgy. Cercles migrants (Migrant Circles) is an original composition by Kiya Tabassian inspired by an Oigur melody, and is a setting of a poem by the great Persian poet Hafez. Se kainourgia varka is a Greek song that originated in nineteenth-century Asia Minor, and Ariadni is an original composition by the Greek composer Vassilis Georginis, whose rhythmic approach is reminiscent of the Kurdish musical spirit. Lamma bada is the famous Arab-Andalusian muwashah that has come down to us through oral tradition. Finally, Soultani Yegah Longa, is by one of the greatest masters of the 'ud, Yorgos Batznos. Of Greek origin, he lived in Istanbul and left a profound mark on twentieth-century Turkish music. © Kiya Tabassian
Kiya Tabassian, setar Kyriakos Kalaitzides, oud Drosos Koutsokostas, voice Andreas Papas, percussion Imane Homsy, qanoun Ghada Shbeir, voice Kyriakos Kalaitzides & Kiya Tabassian, artistic directors Enregistrement et réalisation: Johanne Goyette Montage numérique: Anne-Marie Sylvestre Adjoints à la production: Jacques-André Houle Graphic: Diane Lagacé Cover: René Magritte(1898-1976), The Seducer Photo: Herscovivi / Art Resource, NY |
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