The Road to Kesan Turkish Rom and Regional Music of Thrace Chosen as one of the top world music recordings of the year by The New York Times and Songlines! “magnificent” “a richly detailed aural tour of the Thrace region of western Turkey, with Sesler’s snaky clarinet lines leading the way” “Turkish Gypsy music is wild, virtuosic and soulful...There are few recordings of this genre as good as this one.” “excellent” |  |
Journey west from Istanbul to the region of Thrace, turn south toward the Aegean Sea, and with luck your road will lead you to the town of Kesan, center of a Rom (Gypsy) musical community that is one of Turkey’s great treasures. This collection of Thracian wedding and dance music, which melds Turkish, Greek, Rom, and Bulgarian influences, showcases Kesan’s preeminent Rom ensemble, under the leadership of master clarinetist Selim Sesler.
INCLUDES 35 PAGES OF NOTES, INCLUDING THE HISTORY OF ROM MUSIC IN THRACE, TURKISH LYRICS AND ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS, AND NUMEROUS REGIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF MUSICIANS AND MUSICAL EVENTS.
Featuring Selim Sesler (clarinet, voice) * Nusret Sute (violin) * Bulent Sesler (kanun) * Turan Gumus (cumbus, voice) * Selahattin Kocan (darbuka, daire) * Ramadan Borozan (davul)
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1. Kiremit bacalari/Nasti usava |
Mahmut Koy Karsilamasi
Born in 1957, Selim Sesler is a descendant of a family of professional zurna players from Drama, Greece. His relatives were first settled in Kesan’s Ibriktepe village as a result of the 1923 population exchange, and then relocated to Kesan’s Roman Yeni Mescit neighborhood. Selim’s musical experience spans the period of transition from davul-zurna to calgi ensembles. Selim began as a zurna player, but took up the clarinet in his early teens, like many younger members of davul-zurna families who began to adopt calgi instruments in the 1960s. He began playing village weddings at age 14 and also performed in regional fairs. In the 1980s, joining the many regional town Roman musicians gravitating toward large urban centers, Selim moved to Istanbul to develop his musical talents. In Istanbul he played fasil music in restaurants, provided music for Ferhan Sensoy’s musical theater, played Roman and non-Roman weddings, and made many recordings. His musical path most recently took him to Canada, which he toured in 1998, representing Turkish Roman and his own Rumeli (Turkish Balkan) roots. He maintains a vast repertoire and playing style associated with Kesan and surrounding areas in Thrace, serving as a veritable living regional archive. He is renowned among Roman and non-Roman for his improvisational virtuosity, and as a premier interpreter of wedding and modern dance tunes.
“Kesan is a town in the south of Thrace, the region of Turkey west of Istanbul, which is bordered by Greece and Bulgaria. There is a strong Gypsy presence in the music of The Road to Kesan, along with various Balkan influences. The group heard on this excellent record consists of Gypsy musicians who perform in various local styles for events like weddings, dances, and drinking sessions. Instruments include clarinet, fiddle, kanun, and percussion. The music is soulful and exciting, featuring occasional improvisatory flights from clarinetist Selim Sesler, passionate vocals, and drumming that’s more of a presence than one usually expects with Balkan or Gypsy ensembles. The 35-page booklet includes well-written, informative notes, intriguing photos, and even the words to the songs (with translations). As is often the case, music that has strong regional traditions of great historical interest is also wonderful to listen to.”
Dirty Linen
“One technique I use to review albums is loading up the CD changer in the car and letting the music do its work. The Road to Kesan gave me one of those infrequent ‘What?!!” moments that had my arm reaching back under the passenger seat to pull the disc and read the label. I like Rom (Gypsy) music and have heard quite a bit of it, but this stopped me in my tracks. Thrace is that portion of European Turkey bounded by Greece and Bulgaria. The region exemplifies what happens to music when time, population migrations, and relative remoteness combine. Time and migration brought many groups to the area, such as the Gacals (Turkish speakers), Pomaks (Slavic-speaking Muslim groups), and other regional neighbors from Albania, Bosnia, and Romania. Twentieth-century wars forced a lot of people through Thrace, many of whom stayed to become part of the cultural landscape. Remoteness, a feature of the region that let its unique melding of cultures develop, is giving way, however, making recordings like this essential. Roads, communication technology, and the inevitable broadening of influences that accompany both have brought musical change. As represented on The Road to Kesan, Thracian history and music are held together by ‘an essential cultural link’, the Rom (Gypsy) musicians who have also made Thrace their home. It was good business for this professional caste of musicians to learn each community’s repertoire, allowing them to adapt to each audience and its particular celebration, seasonal festival or performance. The Road to Kesan presents an overview of the traditional Thracian repertoire, perfomed by a ‘traditional Kesan Roman ensemble’ called a calgi. Various combinations of clarinet, violin, cumbus, kanun, davul, darbuka, daire and vocals are presented by outstanding performers, and unusually well-written liner notes and photographs will walk you through each track.”
Victory Review
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