Čalgija | Üçayak
In 1981, Dutch musician and ethnomusicologist Wouter Swets (1930–2016) took his ensemble Čalgija to the studio to record their second album. The recordings were completed, but the liner notes took much more time than anticipated (probably because Swets was working on his lecture series and book on Ottoman art music at the same time). Meanwhile, Čalgija’s line-up changed to the extent that the material and performance were no longer considered representative. The project was shelved and eventually forgotten, and Swets went back to the studio in 1983 for a second attempt. While the 1981 master tapes were lost, a cassette copy turned up in the estate of Wouter Swets in 2020. Out of twelve tracks, three were redone and released on other albums. The remaining nine have been supplemented with eight live tracks from 1978.
Straight to the liner notes ⇲
(info, music and downloads below)
Album information
Tracks / total playing time 58:20
- Nji ditë diele
- Trakijsko pajduško
- Üçayak
- Aman doktor
- Esir-i zülfünüm ey yüzü mâhım
- Žeravnenska răčenica
- Ti kles, kaimeni Maria
- Në Shkodër
- Selim Bey
- Sardisale lešočkiot manastir – Live
- Kopanica – Live
- Pia skyla mana – Live
- Kadıoğlu zeybeği – Live
- Kars’ın önü – Live
- Răčenica – Live
- Në Shkodër – Live
- Dy të bukurat – Live
30-sec. track samples on Soundcloud.
Genre
Folk music from the Balkans (Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria) and Anatolia; one Ottoman classical composition by Şevki Bey (1860–1891).
Liner notes
Read all about the rediscovery of these recordings, Čalgija in the 1980s, and the individual tracks.
Credits
Musicians
Wouter Swets (musical director) – accordion, kanun
Tjarko ten Have – gajda, bağlama saz, ney, def, tapan
Jan Hofmeijer – clarinet, santur, vocals
Thijs de Melker – Macedonian tambura, laouto, divan saz, oud
Crispijn Oomes – violin, gădulka, cura saz
Roelof Rosendal – darabuka, oud, tapan, def, gajda
Roel Sluis – vocals, kaval, sopranino recorder, davul
Tracks
All repertoire is traditional, and has been arranged by Wouter Swets. Tracks 1–9 were recorded, mixed and mastered in 1981 by Wil Hesen of Farmsound Studio (Heelsum, Netherlands), who also digitised the material in 2021. Tracks 10–16 were recorded live in 1978 at Theater aan de Haven (The Hague, Netherlands) on a Teac 34-2 tape recorder by Frenk van Meeteren and Jørn Plas for Pan Records, and digitised in 2019 by Wil Hesen. Track 17 was recorded in the same year and same venue, and digitised in 2021 by Jan van Rhenen (Leiden, Netherlands). The material was denoised and mastered by Vangelis Apostolou at Studio Vasmaris (Heraklion, Greece) in 2019 (10–16) and 2021 (1–9, 17).
Album
Production, artwork and liner notes – Michiel van der Meulen
Acknowledgements
Cengiz Arslanpay, Martijn Busink, Dominy Clements, Ross Daly, Bernard Kleikamp, Nikos Kokolakis, Thijs de Melker, Crispijn Oomes, Vassilis Philippou, Joost Rekveld, Magnus Robb, Yaşar Saka, Roel Sluis, Albana Shala, Hugo Strötbaum and Martine van der Meulen are thanked for input and advice.
TouMilou #5 / EAN 8714835141112
Tracks 10–17 licensed from Pan Records ℗ 1978, 2021
© 2021 TouMilou Music
Reviews
- Dani Heyvaert, Rootstime.be (November 3, 2021; in Dutch): “one of the absolute best world music releases of the year. You know what to do!”
- Mattie Poels, Music Frames (September 1, 2021; in Dutch and English): “Both the vocal and instrumental pieces are performed with verve and passion, characteristics that are indispensable to traditional music.”
- Joop Wierenga, New Folk Sounds (August 22, 2021; in Dutch): “This album, Üçayak, is like a great historical novel about the Balkans, with its very informative inlay about the tracks and the magnificent past of this extraordinary group.”
- Holly Moors, Moors Magazine (July 18, 2021; in Dutch): “A lovely, unexpected discovery from the archives, magnificently dusted and beautifully presented.”
- Jan Willem Broek, De Subjectivisten (June 28, 2021; in Dutch): “This is the type of traditional music I once fell in love with, music that brings so much more than pop, rock and all electronic genres combined.”
Get the album
- Üçayak is streamed on all major platforms
- Use the contact form below to order a CD directly from TouMilou: € 10.00
- A CD can be purchased online from the distributor Xango Music
Čalgija CD sale revenues are transferred to the estate of Wouter Swets and used to cover the expenses of a continued effort to safeguard his musical legacy. TouMilou Music contributes to this effort on a pro bono basis.
Downloads
Album art / 1000 x 1000 px jpg
About the album artwork
This album is named after its third track. The Turkish word üçayak means tripod or, especially in the context of dance, three-step. It is also the name of the ruins of a Byzantine church in the Kırşehir province of Central Anatolia, which is featured in the album artwork. The full name, Üçayak Kilisesi (Three-legged Church), refers to the state of the ruins, of which the main remaining wall, which features two arched openings, resembles three legs. The church was reportedly built in the 10th or 11th century, in an isolated location with no nearby resources of water or signs of habitation. The album artwork features modifications of a photo by Hajo-Muc (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Other releases by Čalgija
- Unforgotten / PAN 2056 / TouMilou #4, 2020 / album
- Vintage Recordings (1964–1966) / TouMilou #2, 2017 / EP
- Mosaique Vivant / MV695, 1995 / compilation album with three tracks by Čalgija
- Music from the Balkans and Anatolia #2 / PAN 2007CD, 1991 / album
- Music from the Balkans and Anatolia #1 / MU 7425, 1978 / PAN 7425, 2013 / album