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WORLD MUSIC REVIEW
Orientalism? April 14, 2002
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By Rajna Klaser
Burhan Öçal and his Istanbul Oriental Ensemble, in its
performance Sunday in Stanford University's Dinkelspiel Auditorium, succeeded in enthralling its audience while leaving a bittersweet after-taste of deception and treason. It was a calculated performance offering cheap tricks that have proven to work with an unsuspecting audience.
The strength of the Istanbul Oriental Ensemble lies in its individual players. Each is an extraordinary musician in full control of his instrument. Undisputably, they have an excellent knowledge of the Turkish modes and rhythmic cycles, and a remarkable capacity to improvise. It would be unfair to single out any one of them. Cuneyt Coskuner on violin displayed restrained yet beautifully woven melodies as he developed his taksims, solo improvisations. Similar mastery characterized the taksims performed by Muzaffer Coskuner on ud (lute), Yasar Sütoglu on clarinet, Alaattin Coskuner on kanun (zither), and Ekrem Bagi on darbuka (goblet drum). With all this going for the group, its musicality and virtuosity was tainted for the sake of showing off the percussive pyrotechnics of their leader, Burhan Öçal.
A renowned percussionist, Burhan Öçal has established his reputation for his mastery of the darbuka. A signature of Öçal's performance with Istanbul Oriental Ensemble is the ten-minute long drum solo at the end of the program's first half. Ths solo contains a variety of unorthodox playing techniques including prolonged finger snaps, striking the body of the drum, playing from the back of the membrane, pounding the membrane, playing with the back of his fingers, etc.
Öçal's percussive effects display his incredible technical virtuosity and captivate the audience with enchanting trance-like rhythms. However, I saw a near identical performance last year at UC Berkeley, and the novelty effect of his solo has long since lost its appeal. It is upsetting that the audience will most likely walk away remembering only Öçal's flashy drum solo. It is also hard not to believe that this is Öçal's calculation of what an unsuspecting Western audience is capable of perceiving — a mindless rhythmic pounding throughout the concert. Except for minor changes, this year's program is almost identical to that offered during Öçal's 2001 tour. It consisted of a mix of folk, light classical, and original compositions, with a strong emphasis on instrumental pieces. This programming decision is understandable since the vocal compositions are hard to represent due to the language barrier and vocal style. While not exceptional, Öçal's interpretation of Haci Arif Bey's song “Sayd eyledi,” and Kemal Serkis' song “Kimseye etmem sikayet” closely followed stylistic canons of the light classical Turkish tradition performed by Rroma Gypsy musicians. Instrumental performances, however, suffered largely due to the lack of dynamic balance between melodic and percussion instruments. Whether it was Refik Fersan's pesrev (prelude), or the anonymous “Muhayyer Oriental” and “Nihavent Oriental,” it was hard to discern the melody from the ceaseless rhythmic pounding by Öçal. Even during the instrumental solos on violin, kanun, clarinet, or ud inside the compositions, the focus was on the drums. Öçal could not refrain from throwing in odd accents thus drawing attention to him instead of subsiding to the subtle, simple accompaniment with the rest of the ensemble. This approach gives a wrong impression of the beautiful aspects of the Turkish music tradition. Instead of melodic subtleties that are at the core of this tradition, Öçal's interpretation puts too much emphasis on rhythmic structure and percussion virtuosity. The rhythm section should be subservient to the melody most of the time. One can understand how Öçal's interpretation may stem from a desire to prove himself as the leader of this potentially fine ensemble. He seems to forget that light classical Turkish music already has the qualities that mature Western audiences can appreciate. Öçal does not need to westernize it and add novelty theatrics for us to enjoy it. He needs to show his maturity as a leader by tightening the existing arrangements and letting his fellow musicians share the well-deserved spotlight. (Rajna Klaser is a Ph.D. candidate in the UC Berkeley Department of Music, with an emphasis on ethnomusicology.) ©2002 Rajna Klaser, all rights reserved |