Jordi Savall - Esprit des Balkans / Balkan Spirit '2013

Tracks list

The booklet for this release from Jordi Savall and his Hespèrion XXI
ensemble, this time composed largely of Balkan musicians, weighs in at an
awe-inspiring 396 pages. The size is not due to any special plenitude of
information; indeed, two of the historical essays duplicate each other to a
large extent, and one is actually left wanting to learn more about the various
instruments one is hearing. Instead, the page count is inflated by the
translation of the material into no fewer than 13 languages, including Greek,
Croation, Turkish, and apparently Bulgarian. This is in line with Savalls
generally idealistic aims, outlined in an essay of his own that stresses the
rich cultural legacy generated by the unity of experience in the region. Some of
his assertions are open to question, for example that the word Balkan is derived
from the Turkish words for honey and blood. Savall plans a further album of
music under this title, but the derivation is suspect. At any rate, the
performances conform to Hespèrion XXIs usual high standards. As may occur
with Savalls recordings of purely popular or folk material, there are times in
the faster dances when you wish for the muddy intoxication that a barroom or
club performance of the same tune would bring. However, again as usual, the
variety and selection of the material give the listener a lot to chew on and in
a grand, global way raise issues that others have attacked only piecemeal. Those
fast dances, Savall seems to suggest, present a common fund of material, heavily
Gypsy in origin, that has been filtered through a variety of local traditions
from Turkish to Bulgarian, Greek, Serbian, Sephardic Jewish, and more. The most
entrancing pieces are the slow ones, which indeed one would not hear in a bar
and are suited to the more contemplative experience of listening to a CD or
digital file. Hear the Gypsy mallet percussion piece Azt hittem hogy minden
könnyem (track 8), which is absolutely hypnotic. Also of special interest is
track 14, Ciocârlia/Seva, which was composed for the dedication of the Eiffel
Tower in 1889; it is a fascinating fusion of Balkan melody and Western tonality,
and its worth the purchase price of the album all by itself. All the music is
instrumental, but it may be that vocal music is planned for the follow-up
volume. Despite a few questions about the execution of the project here, this is
another in Savalls brilliant series of releases that resurrect the traditional
music of southern Europe in an entirely original way.


Tracks:

01.	Borin Cocek (Serbie)	3:50
02.	Doina, Hora (Roumanie)	5:28
03.	Ta Xyla & Çeçen Kızı (Grèce & Turquie)	2:59
04.	Chichovata (Bulgarie)	3:35
05.	Der Makām-ı Hüseynī Sakīl-i Ağa Rıżā
(Turquie)	3:31
06.	Zajdi, Zajdi (Serbie) 5:22
07.	Sborenka (Dobrudzha, Nord-est Bulgarie)	2:29
08.	Azt Hittem Hogy Minden Könnyem (Tsigane)	5:28
09.	Kovni (Tradition Kurde)	3:05
10.	Cuando El Rey Nimrod (Séfarade)	3:50
11.	Sousta (Grèce)	3:20
12.	Galabovska Ruchenitsa (Thrace, Sud-est Bulgarie)	4:27
13.	Bilijana (Pirin, Sud-ouest Macédoine)	4:38
14.	Ciocârlia / Seva. Bora Dugić D’après Angheluş Dinicu,
Paris 1889 2:21
15.	Suite - Doina, Purtata, Hora Ka la Kaval (Roumanie-Tsigane)	7:48
16.	Sanie Cu Zurgălăi (Tsigane) 2:11
17.	Suite - Hora de Ascultare, Hora Mare, Hora Lui Dragoi
(Roumanie-Tsigane)	7:10
18.	Vrcavo Kolo (Tradition de Serbie Centrale)	2:32
19.	Pastirska Elegija (Serbie). Version Musicale Bora Dugić Et Jordi Savall
3:41

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