31 May 2014

This Fusion is Monster




Turkish-born & Montreal-based Mercan Dede (born Arkın Ilıcalı, 1966, Bursa, Turkey), aka DJ Arkin Allen, is a composer, ney & bendir player, DJ, & producer. He started the Mercan Dede Ensemble in 1998 as the culmination of his extensive musical experiences over the past decade both in Turkey & in North America. His ensemble of Turkish & Canadian musicians subtly fuse the Eastern spiritual traditions of Sufi music with contemporary ambient sounds to create a unique mix of old / new - sacred / secular - East / West.

The music is fully modern yet it clearly has grown out of the otherworldly heart of the sema ritual of the Whirling Dervishes. The inspirational force behind the work of the Ensemble is to carry the message of Rumi up through the centuries & around the world. ‘Dervish’ means threshold, & the ultimate aim for a Sufi is to meet & be met at the point where one space becomes another.




The Ensemble was originally Mercan Dede, Mohammad & Farokh Shams. They were joined later by Toronto-based world-musician Ben Grossman & are accompanied by Isaiah Sala, a young Sufi dervish whirler.



Fusion Monster is a project of Mercan’s alter-identity DJ Arkin Allen. FM leans more toward the electronic end of Mercan’s world-wide spectrum. He still conjures wonderful instrumental performances here, but they are set to big DJ-friendly rhythms. Although subtle & restrained with the energy serenely subdued, with no rush to break the beautifully constructed tension, it is still consistently eastern.


Arkin Allen – Fusion Monster, Numoon Records NM004, 2004.
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Tracklist –

Kıtmir  
Debernuş
Şazenuş
Kefeştetayyuş
Mernuş
Mekseline
Meslina
Yemliha 

Enjoy,




3 comments:

  1. OsKDzWsC7jUmmVqF53sAZQ2mngQd-bJHJHBOVfg1sV8

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  2. Dear Nathan, thank you very much for sharing all this beautiful music with us! Could you please reupload this CD from your "Mongolia" series: "Altai Hangai – Naariits Biilye (Let’s Dance)"? Thank you very much in advance for your time and consideration, kind regards.....also, I have been looking for a CD calld "Tama Walo - keepers of the talking drum" for a long time and also for music played on the Central Asian folk instrument "rubab/rabab" - maybe you would like to hear (maybe even share) these ones too? All the best to you and keep up the great work

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the comment. Since it is off-topic here, I replied with the information you wanted over at the original Mongolia post.

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