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WORLD MUSIC REVIEW
Turkish Music Masters Show Their Brilliance
August 18, 2001
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By Rajna Klaser
With no program notes and just ephemeral spoken introductions to go on, the audience for the Turkish master instrumentalists presented at the Trustees' Auditorium of the Asian Art Museum on Saturday could only guess that this was another world music performance featuring the strange sounds of exotic Middle Eastern instruments. Listeners would doubtless have figured out that the music was esoteric and improvised, pieces created on the spot by virtuosos, whose sole purpose was to show off technical proficiency. However, these two masters — Necati Çelik (pronounced chelik) on ud (Turkish lute, or oud) and Halil Karaduman on kanun (plucked zither) — achieved much more than that.
What Çelik and Karaduman played were short instrumental suites of a particular type (fasil), each with its own modal, temporal, and formal unity. After each instrumentalist introduced a mode (makam) in an extemporized solo improvisation (taksim), the suite would segue into formal classical instrumental compositions. These were followed by a simple, informal, upbeat, folk-influenced dance (oyun hava and longa) or an instrumental version of a popular song (sarki and türkü).
Typically, the standard Turkish suite includes vocal compositions. But since the poetry in those and the interpretation, with its extensive ornamentation, might be harder to communicate to a Western audience, they were omitted. In other respects, the programming of Çelik and Karaduman closely followed Turkish classical performance practice. For instance, in the progression from unmetered improvisation to metered compositions, each of the subsequent compositions featured a shorter rhythmic cycle and faster tempo. And as in classical practice, the switch to unmetered improvisation signaled the transition to another suite and another section of the concert, with a different mode and temporal and formal cycles.
The musicianship of Çelik and Karaduman was exquisite. Their knowledge of modal development in the complex makams Acem Kürdi, Sultan-i Yegah, Hicazkar, and Mahur was particularly evident during their solo improvisations (taksim). They took different registers and submodes, with their characteristic colors, and then drew the contour of each makam with the skill of a master painter. Particularly beautiful, in the first part of the program, were their improvisations that featured a transition from the suite in Acem Kürdi to Sultan-i Yegah makam. Their interpretation of classical instrumental compositions, pesrev and saz semai, was more conservative, for they stayed faithful to their rondo-like form and refrained from excessive ornamentation that would have obscured the form. Their rhythmic precision in complex passages, as in the Saz Semai in Mahur makam (composed by Refik Talat Bey), was especially commendable. Çelik and Karaduman's unrestrained virtuosity was seen in full flair in the simpler folk pieces. Çelik displayed unimaginable fingerwork on the ud, turning an otherwise-subdued instrument into an electrifying beast. Karaduman's virtuosity resided in his exquisite tremolos, octave playing, and uncanny ability to produce harplike sounds, each effect adding tastefully to the character of individual pieces.
Though the interpretations of catchy folk pieces may have resembled world music, the brilliant improvisations brought them to a higher level. Whether Azeri folk dances or the famous Longa IN Sultan-i Yegah makam (composed by Sadi Isilay), each had a clear formal structure of theme and variations within whose structural unity the improvisation added complexity. Unfortunately, it is questionable how much of the superb musicianship on display and the treasured beauty that resides in Turkish classical repertoire could reach the audience. With no printed program to outline the sequence of pieces and makams and to provide information on the composers, the impression given was that Turkish classical music performance practice has no structure or historically founded repertory. This drawback consistently afflicts world music programs and gives a twisted view of a fine tradition. (Rajna Klaser is a Ph.D. candidate in the UC Berkeley Department of Music, with an emphasis on ethnomusicology.) ©2001 Rajna Klaser, all rights reserved |