Kairos Collective | Európe
Michiel van der Meulen’s second album is a homage to the continent of Europe, where travelling a thousand kilometres in any direction will bring you into another world. Where West and East meet and blend and beautiful things happen.
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(info, music and downloads below)
Album information
Tracks / total playing time 58:18
- Hebros / Hüseynî karşılama
- Diaspora / Isfahân-Kürdî peşrev
- Dali znaeš pomniš Li / Κürdîli Hicâzkar Rumeli şarkı
- Nihâvend taksim / Improvisation on the cello
- Barbanera / Nihâvend evfer
- Hüseynî taksim / Improvisation on the oud
- Endülüs / Hüseynî-Aşîran yürük semâî
- Kairos / Stankina
- Manastırka / Poustséno / Pušteno
- Isfahân-Kürdî taksim / Improvisation on the violin
- Yol / Isfahân-Kürdî saz semâî
- Trandafirul rău tînjeşte / Doină
Musicians
Harris Lambrakis – ney
Giorgos Papaioannou – violin
Nikos Papaioannou – cello
Manolis Kanakakis – kanun
Taxiarchis Georgoulis – oud
Marijia Katsouna – bendir [1-3, 8, 11], pandeiro [5, 9], tombak [7]
Michiel van der Meulen – Macedonian tambura [1, 8, 9]
Special guests
Roel Sluis – vocals [3]
Vagelis Karipis – rek [11]
Albert van der Meulen – accordion [12]
Tracks
Tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 11 were composed by Michiel van der Meulen. Track 3 is an arrangement of a traditional North-Macedonian song by Wouter Swets and Michiel van der Meulen. Tracks 4, 6 and 10 are improvisations. Track 12 is variation on a traditional Romanian song by Albert van der Meulen. Tracks 1-11 have been recorded by Nikos Kollias at Antart Studios (Athens, Greece) on January 8-11, 2019. Track 12 is a home recording made by Remco Busink (Nieuwegein, Netherlands) in the 1980s. The album was mixed and mastered by Vangelis Apostolou (Studio Vasmaris).
Album
Production, artwork and liner notes – Michiel van der Meulen
Acknowledgements
Many thanks are due to: Ross Daly and Labyrinth Musical Workshop for guidance and inspiration • The musicians and studio staff for the great time we spent and the great job they did • Cengiz Arsanpay, Christos Barbas, Dominy Clements, Nikos Kokolakis, Dimitris Papageorgiou, Vassilis Phillipou, Magnus Robb, Goran Stalevski, Dorothy Strakari, Kelly Thoma, Sergios Voulgaris and Jan Wollring for advice and comments • Remco Busink for the recording of [12] • The Papaioannou family for their great hospitality during the recording sessions • Martine van der Meulen for love and understanding – this album is for you.
TouMilou #3 / EAN 8714835130574
© 2019 M.J. van der Meulen/TouMilou
Reviews and mentions
- Antione Bourgeau, Cahiers d’ethnomusicologie 36, 183-201 (2023; in French), discusses the album Pîrî Reis and the composition ‘Kairos’ (Európe) in an ethnomusicological analysis of contemporary modal music in terms of its origins, identity and mechanism of creativity, entitled ‘La circulation au cœur de la Contemporary Modal Music’.
- Marius Roeting, New Folk Sounds (November 20, 2019; in Dutch): “The performance standard is high, the transparancy of the various instruments excellent, and the compositions are challenging, captivating and imaginative. Van der Meulen deserves a statue!”
- Dani Heyvaert, Rootstime.be (July 1, 2019; in Dutch): “… the inventor of the most beautiful, sometimes unusual melodies that, once you have gotten used to them, find their way through your ears time and again, and may linger inside your head for days.”
- Holly Moors, Moors Magazine (June 25, 2019; in Dutch): “…really new, modern European modal music, rooted in ancient European traditions. The unique musical voice of Michiel van der Meulen. Fabulous.”
Get the album
- Digital album on Bandcamp: € 7.00
- CD on Bandcamp: € 10.00
- The physical album can also be purchased from the distributor Xango Music and resellers such as bol.com and amazon.com
Bandcamp is an online platform that allows you to buy music directly from the people who make it. Unlike other channels, most revenue goes to the makers. Independent artists need independent listeners!
Downloads / Terms of use in the footer
Album art / 1000 x 1000 px jpg
Scores / pdf
Makam description / pdf
About the artwork
In Greek mythology, Európe was a Phoenician princess who caught the eye of Zeus while she was playing at the beach. He transformed himself into a tame bull in order to escape the attention of his wife Hera and disguise himself for Európe. Európe caressed the bull en eventually got onto his back. He then took her into the sea and swam all the way to Crete. Upon arrival, Zeus made himself known to Európe and seduced her, after which she had three children: Minos (the later king), Rhadamantus and Sarpedon. The album artwork and score book feature the paintings ‘The Abduction of Europe’ (1910) by Valentin Serov (1865–1911), and the lithography ‘Europa’ (1953) by Hans Erni (1909–2015), respectively. Erni’s painting is copyright-protected and has been reproduced with permission from the rightholders.