Led by clarinet virtuoso, Barbaros Erköse, the Barbaros Erköse
Ensemble
will present an array of Turkish fasil light classical and urban
music in
the driving and fluid improvisational style found among Roman (Gypsy)
urban
musicians of Turkey. Barbaros Erköse, of the famed Erköse
musician family,
has created a unique style forged from an interpenetration of
Turkish
traditional style with Western-influenced idioms and
improvisational
performance modes.
The roots for such original synthesis lie in his musical family
background
and life experiences. In Turkey, as in other areas of the Balkans
and
Middle East, Roman musicians generally come from musician
families, where
training is fostered as much in the home as with outside teachers,
and
tempered in a variety of live performance situations. As is the
case for
many professional musician families in Western Turkey, the Erköse
family
came from the Balkans. Barbaros' grandfather, Abdurrahman, played
clarinet
in a military band in the Greek town of Drama. Barbaros' father,
Saban, was
born in 1895 and played oud (ud in Turkish, a short-necked,
plucked lute)
in Greece. He later also became a composer, and wrote "Ne güzeldir
bakisin"
a sarki (Turkish light classical song) in the makam (mode) of
Hicaz and
usul (rhythmic mode) of Çifte Sofyan, which was recorded by
famed singer
Hafiz Burhan on the Columbia label. Saban's brother, Ali Demir,
was an
important violinist in Istanbul's Turkish Radio. Barbaros' mother,
Ülviye
Hanim, was also from a musical family; her brother was the father
of
violinist Aslan Hepgür, also of the Istanbul TRT. In the early
1920s, the
Erköse family moved to Bursa and settled in the Setbasi
neighborhood where
sons Ali (b.1926; violin), Selahattin (b. 1929; oud) and Barbaros
(b. 1936;
clarinet) were born.
It was natural that Barbaros would follow in the footsteps of his
musical
forefathers. Barbaros' early musical experience was eclectic, and
he began
by playing with his brothers, Ali and Selahattin. He began
playing the
clarinet at age 12, when the family moved to Samsun. During this
period in
Samsun, he also studied with Remzi Bey.
In 1951, he moved with his family to Ankara. There he took
lessons with a
clarinetist Osman Özkabak, of the Cumhurbaskanligi Armoni
Mizikasi (The
military band of the Turkish Republics Presidency) and learned
Western
clarinet technique from him. This experience has greatly affected
Barbaros'
style, which has a sound closer to Western clarinet sound, and
incorporates
greater use of tonguing and staccato techniques. During 1953-54
he played
in the Ankara Yeni Tiyatro Türk Müzik Toplulugu (The Turkish
Music Ensemble
of the New Theater) and participated in a program of Ismail Dümbüllü,
a
famous orta oyun (folk theater) performer. Here he played in an
ensemble of
clarinet, trumpet and drums, performing below the stage. The
ensemble
provided music for acrobats, dancers, and singers. The repertoire
he
performed included oyun havalari or dance songs for stage, of
which some
examples are included on the new recording Lingo Lingo; Çiftetelli;
karsilama; 2/4 dance melodies and popular theatrical songs called
kanto.
After this, he traveled to Cyprus and performed with a traveling
theatrical
troupe for 3 months. He attributes his wide repertoire to his
training in
musical theaters. While in Ankara, he also played weddings in
Ankara and
neighboring villages, performing instrumental and vocal folk
music from the
area.
In 1961 he moved to Istanbul and passed the radio exam. Like many
musicians, his family moved to Istanbul because of greater
opportunities in
the local nightclubs and concert halls. At the radio, he played
with
artists such as Mesut Cemil Bey (son of Tanburi Cemil Bey), Yorgo
Bacanos,
Sadi Isilay, Necati Tokyay, Hilmi Rit, Necdet Yasar and Serif
Icli. During
this period, he was the first to bring clarinet into the fasil
ensemble
solo programs. According to Barbaros, Mesut Cemil, then director
at the
Istanbul Radio, was impressed with Barbaros' sound, and thus
included it in
the solo fasil programs. He also performed with his brothers as
the Erköse
Kardesler (The Brothers Erköse) in first class nightclubs such
as Tepebasi,
Kasablanka and Maksim Gazino. This led to the beginning of his
recording
career, in which he made recordings with his brothers Ali and
Selahattin as
the famous Erköse Kardesler (The Brothers Erköse). In these
recordings, the
ensemble presented lively fasil versions of popular folk and
stage dance
melodies.
While continuing to perform with the Istanbul TRT, Barbaros began
to
receive international recognition when he performed in France in
November
1984 as the Erköse Brothers, representing Roman music of
Istanbul. From
there the group toured throughout France, North Africa, Finland
and
Holland. Due to growing critical acclaim, Barbaros forged a solo
career and
creative fusion projects with musicians from other cultures.
These projects
include work with Peter Pannke on his Morungen project, several
recordings
and concerts with Tunisian oudist Anouar Brahem, and most
recently concerts
and a recording with African-American jazz musician Craig Harris
and his
group, The Nation of Imagination. In Turkey, he has retired from
the TRT
but continues to record and give concerts. His own family
continues the
professional musician tradition, with son Tuncay on cello and
nephew Saban
on darbuka, as featured on the new recording Lingo Lingo.