#4768, A Whole Lotta Lutes
Spanish string musician Efren Lopez plays oud, Persian tar, Turkish saz, and bouzouki - anything that can be plucked, strummed or bowed. His specialty seems to be lutes from along the Silk Road - which happens to be the theme of this episode, more or less. Listen to Spanish string musician Efren Lopez as part of two different trios for this New Sounds along with lute-based music of the Hazara people of central Asia, and more music on instruments in the lute family from Crete, Cyprus, Iran, Syria, and Turkey.
Efren Lopez is a Valencia-based string musician who plays guitar and anything that looks like a guitar: Afghani rubab, Cretan lauto, Arab oud, Persian tar, Turkish saz, bouzouki, anything that can be plucked, strummed or bowed. Listen to trio music from Lopez, Cretan bowed lyra player Stelios Petrakis, and Iranian/French master percussionist Bijan Chemirani with roots in the island of Crete. Hear “Efren's Kondylies,” a kondylies being a specific kind of music built around 15 syllables found on island of Crete. Then, hear music by 3,14, a trio also featuring Efren López, Ciro Montanari and Jordi Prats- playing sarod, tabla and rubab, who call up the legacy of the Silk Road by focusing on the silk worm itself, from their 2020 record, Bombyx Mori.
There’s music from the Romanian-based Mohamad Zatari Trio who are oud performer and composer, Mohamad Zatari, with Sara Eslami (Iran) on tar, and Avadhut Kasinadhuni (India / Romania) on tabla. The collaborative trio “merges traditional Middle Eastern sounds with contemporary vibes”, (Bandcamp.)
Then, hear Hazara folk music by Norwegian-based Hamid Sakhizada, a musician in exile from Afghanistan who plays the the two-stringed, long-necked lute known as dambura. Also, listen to Danûk, a group of Turkish-based Syrian exiles who remix Kurdish folklore and wedding songs
Plus, hear music from Dimitri Psonis, a multi-instrumentalist (santur, oud, lauto, tzurás, tambura) who performs with Jordi Savall’s Hesperion XXI. Listen to a tune from his recent record SYNERGIA, dedicated to the rich musical heritage of Cyprus, and featuring singers and instrumentalists from the island, as well as Greece and Turkey. That, and more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4768, A Whole Lotta Lutes (First aired 7/7/2023)
ARTIST: 3,14 (Efrén López, Ciro Montanari and Jordi Prats)
WORK: 3,000 Feet (Madhuvanti) [1:17]
RECORDING: Bombyx Mori
SOURCE: Worlds Within Worlds
INFO: 314music.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Danûk
WORK: Şewqo [3:38]
RECORDING: Morîk
SOURCE: Omni Sound
INFO: omnisoundlabel.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Mohamad Zatari Trio
WORK: White River [4:45]
RECORDING: Istehlal
SOURCE: Zehra
INFO: https://zehra.bandcamp.com/album/istehlal
ARTIST: Issam Rafea and Gao Hong
WORK: Summer Rain [3:42]
RECORDING: Life As Is
SOURCE: Innova 997
INFO: innova.mu
ARTIST: 3,14 (Efrén López, Ciro Montanari and Jordi Prats)
WORK: 3,000 Feet (Madhuvanti) [4:10]
RECORDING: Bombyx Mori
SOURCE: Worlds Within Worlds
INFO: 314music.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Efren Lopez, Stelios Petrakis, Bijan Chemirani
WORK: Efren's Kondylies [5:30]
RECORDING: Taos
SOURCE: Buda Musique
INFO: budamusique.com
ARTIST: Hamid Sakhizada
WORK: I Will Return (from Bamiyan) [4:32]
RECORDING: Dai Raft
SOURCE: Grappa Musikkforlag/Lidio
INFO: grappa.no
ARTIST: Nasim Kushnawaz
WORK: Hossein Herati [4:39]
RECORDING: Songs From The Pearl of Khorasan
SOURCE: Worlds Within Worlds
INFO: worldswithinworlds.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Arash Moradi
WORK: Whirling Phrases [4:25]
RECORDING: The Bridge
SOURCE: Arash Moradi
INFO: Available at AppleMusic and Spotify
ARTIST: Dimitri Psonis
WORK: Yinekios Karsilamas [7:32]
RECORDING: Dimitri Psonis - SYNERGIA - Music from the Island of Cyprus
SOURCE: Alia Vox
INFO: alia-vox.com
