Jordi Savall & Hèsperion XXI at First Congregational Church, February 20, 2015

Cal Performances presents Istanbul: Music from the Ottoman Empire in Dialogue with the Armenian, Greek & Sephardic Traditions featuring Jordi Savall & Hèsperion XXI
2015-02-20
First Congregational Church
2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA
8:00 PM, Friday, February 20, 2015

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:05 PM lights down, applause at entrance, tuning]

1. [8:08 PM] (kanun solo) »
2. [8:08 PM] Der makām-ı “Uzzâl uşūleş Darb-i feth” Dervis Mehmed, from Dimitrie Cantemir's Kitab-i ilm-i musiki (the Book of the Science of Music), ca. 1700, (Mss. 209)
3. [8:12 PM] (DEM oud solo) »
4. [8:13 PM] La rosa enflorece — Maciço de rosas Sephardic (I. Levy I.59, III.41)
5. [8:17 PM] (duduk solo) »
6. [8:17 PM] Alagyeaz & Khnki tsar traditional, collected by the musicologist Nigoghos Tahmizian, published in 1982 as Voskeporik (Thesaurus of Armenian Melodies) in Yerevan, Armenia.
7. [8:21 PM] (OYT oud solo) »
8. [8:23 PM] Der makām-ı Hüseynī Semâ’î (Mss. 268)
   [segment ends 8:29 PM; pause for tuning]
9. [8:31 PM] (OYT oud solo) »
10. [8:35 PM] Hisar Ağir Semai Ottoman lament
11. [8:m PM] Ta xyla (Greek) / Çeçem kizi (Turkish) – skipped in the absence of DP?
12. [8:38 PM] Ene Sarére Armenian lament
13. [8:44 PM] Der makām-ı Uzzäl Sakîl “Turna” Semâ’î (Mss. 324)
    [set ends 8:50 PM]

[9:07 PM lights down, tuning]

1. [9:08 PM] Paxarico tu te llamas Sephardic (Sarajevo)
2. [9:11 PM] Al aylukhs Armenian song and dance
3. [9:15 PM] Der makām-ı Räst “Murass’a” uşūleş Düyek (Mss. 214)
4. [9:16 PM] Hermoza muchachica Sephardic traditional
5. [9:21 PM] Taksim
   [segment ends 9:25 PM; pause for tuning]
6. [9:26 PM] Hov arek Armenian lament
7. [9:30 PM] Koniali Turkish-Greek song and dance
8. [9:36 PM] Una pastora Sephardic traditional
9. [9:40 PM] Taksim
10. [9:42 PM] Der makām-ı Hüseynī Sakīl-i Ağa Rıżā (Mss. 89)
    [set ends 9:46 PM; applause for band members, introduced one-by-one by JS; all bow up front]
     
    Encore
11. [9:50 PM] ? (same melody, performed in three styles: Greek, Sephardic, Turkish)
    [show ends 9:56 PM]

• Driss El Maloumi (Morocco): oud;
• Hakan Güngör (Turkey): kanun;
• David Mayoral (Spain): percussion;
• scratched due to illness – Dimitri Psonis (Greece): santur;
• Haïg Sarikouyoumdjian (Armenia): ney, duduk;
• Jordi Savall (Spain): vièle à archet, lyre, musical director;
• Osman Yurdal Tokcan (Turkey): oud.

Two great sets to get started tonight, though my cold is giving me fits, and at times, it's hard to decide if this is torture or fun! In any case, it's a good challenge to the listener to try and follow the audio action and match it up to the printed program.

Overall, Savall delivered another magnificent program to us tonight, in this case doing a fine job illustrating the musical connections between Istanbul and the greater Mediterranean community. I'm glad to have seen him on this go round, and I look forward to seeing him again on the next!

Neils Swinkels posted a nice article about the show for SFCV.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!