Čalgija | Music from the Balkans and Anatolia #2

Review of Music from the Balkans and Anatolia #2 in De Volkskrant

PAN 2007CD

It is now more than ten years since the Dutch group Čalgija released an LP, but the musicians have certainly not been idle. For quite some time, the recordings for a first CD had been completed and were ready for release at Munich Records. Unfortunately, the contract could never be finalised, and the recordings remain there to this day. So, for the time being, the second CD has been released first, on another label. Multi-instrumentalist and ethnomusicologist Wouter Swets founded Čalgija in 1969 with the aim of understanding the musical cultures of the Balkans and Anatolia, and of performing and further developing that music without doing violence to its traditions.

This CD contains reconstructions and new arrangements, improvisations and additions based on existing melodies and rhythms from various regions. Swets does, however, make some bold claims. The unsuspecting reader of the sleeve notes could easily come away with the firm impression that Čalgija does things considerably better than its informants – the musicians and experts from the regions themselves.

This CD offers a wealth of classical and, above all, folk music, instruments, refined scales and complex rhythms, all described in meticulous detail in the accompanying text: “Mode: a folkloristic form of the Turkish Maqam Uzzal. Metre: 29/16 (3+2+2)+(2+2+2+4)+(3+2+2+2+2).”

Such intricately constructed metres – the notes are full of examples like this – may appear contrived on paper, but when played convincingly they sound graceful and natural. This is clearly something the musicians of Čalgija have mastered. Nowhere does the listener get the impression that more time is spent counting than playing. The Macedonian bagpipes, the Bulgarian fiddle and the Turkish clarinet all rasp and sing with character. Only the vocals of Roel Sluis are somewhat thin; in the vocal tracks, one suddenly becomes aware of a Dutch group behind the music.

Of course, there will always be something left to wish for. The CD lacks, for example, the vitality of recordings made on location, but the beautiful melodies and carefully crafted arrangements make up for much of that. It would not, incidentally, be easy to bring together a collection like this in a live setting. In that respect, Swets does indeed have the upper hand.

(PvA)

© 1992 De Volkskrant