TO SCRATCH YOUR HEART 4xLP Box/Rare Istanbul Turkey 78s

$

60

various artists 'To Scratch Your Heart: Early Recordings From Istanbul' 4xLP Box (UK, Honest Jons, Catalogue #HJRLP48) Brand new/unplayed copy of limited vinyl edition of Four LP Boxset edition of Honest Jons label compilation of rare, early 20th century recordings from post-Ottoman Empire Istanbul, Turkey. Another truly stunning package and collection from Honest Jons. Liner notes included.

(NOTE: LIMITED VINYL EDITION!)

'Honest Jon's presents a luxuriously packaged deluxe 4xLP Boxset package (in a cardboard slip case with individual sleeves for each LP) drawn from recordings made in Istanbul by the Gramophone Company and HMV, during the first three decades of the 20th century. Amidst the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, it crosses and mixes the folk and classical heritage of Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Gypsies, Muslims, Christians and Jews, urbanites and country people, and the demands of tradition and modernity, musical improvisation, composition and system. Most of the singers are hafiz, versed in a musical reading of the Koran, and renowned for mastery of the exalted, improvisatory form of the gazel. There are several magnificent examples here, by legendary artists. Three of these gazelhans beautifully interpret folk songs, and another contributor, the folklorist Agyazar Efendi, sings a long Armenian air with utter authenticity, but in the style of gazel. Exemplifying the new political freedoms of the Republic, there are two heart-melting female vocal performances of a kind of art-song called sarki. Also featured is the taksim, a kind of improvisation in which one-off musical fireworks, designed to ravish the listener's soul, illuminate deep fluency in the makam. A who's-who of the pre-eminent instrumentalists of this first half-century of Turkish recording, in performances which are simply stunning, breathtaking, exquisite and other-worldly. The music here is so transfixing, intensely devotional and sublimely beautiful, that some contemporary listeners thought they were levitating.'

Artists/Tracks on this Four LP Boxset are as follows:

• Udi Neset Bey - 'Setaraban Taksim'
• Selanikli Apti Efendi - 'Sende Acep'
• Agyazar Efendi - 'Murat Kenarinda'
• Eyyubi Mustafa Sunar Bey - 'Evc Ara Taksim'
• Hafiz Cemal Bey - 'Feryat'
• Fikriye Hanim - 'Ateslik Eder'
• Hafiz Asir Efendi - 'Kesik Kerem'
• Udi Nevres Bey - 'Aksam Oldu'
• Eyyubi Mustafa Sunar Bey - 'Huzzam Taksim'
• Aleko Bacanos Efendi - 'Segah Taksim'
• Muserref Hanim - 'Kim Derdi Ki'
• Kamil Efendi - 'Hicaz Taksim 1'
• Hafiz Sami - 'Derdime Vakif Degilim'
• Nubar Bey & Ibrahim Bey - 'Hicazkar Pesrev'
• Hafiz Mahmut Bey - 'Bulbulun Ezeli'
• Yorgo Bacanos Efendi - 'Milli Yegah Taksim'
• Emim Taninmis Efendi - 'Rast Taksim'
• Neyzen Tevfik Efendi - 'Huseyni Taksim'
• Udi Neset Bey - 'Nihavent Taksim'
• Balikesirli Tanburi Fuat Bey & Nezihe Hanim - 'Ninni'
• Nafi Bey - 'Derdime Vakif Degilim'
• Kanuni Artaki Efendi - 'Sehnaz Taksim'
• Munir Nurettin Bey - 'Madem Ki Vardi Hicran'
• Yozgath Hafiz Suleyman Bey - 'Ben Nasil Ah Etmeyeyim'
• Tanburi Ibrahim Bey - 'Huzzam Taksim'
• Kemani Nubar Tekyay - 'Huseyni Taksim'
• Hafiz Cemal Bey - 'Yare Varsin'
• Anastas Efendi - 'Nihavent Taksim'
• Udi Marko Colakoglu Efendi - 'Hacer-ul Esved Imis'
• Yorgo Bacanos Efendi - 'Huseyni Taksim'
• Belkis Hanim - 'Eyvah O Benim Talihime'
• Refik Fersan Bey - 'Milli Yegah Taksim'
• Sevket Bey - 'Huseyni Kuzu'
• Eyyubi Mustafa Sunar Bey - 'Hicaz Taksim'

Shipping in US is $7.39./CANADA and OVERSEAS AIRMAIL inquire first for rates. (Shipping totals will be consolidated for multiple winning bids.)