The Whole Music Experience

Gulizar Turkish Music Ensemble Whirling Dervishes (800 Years of Mevlana Rumi) Arc Music Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian & His Middle Eastern Ensemble Oud Masterpieces Arc Music When I first started researching spiritual practices and music from those practices one of the images that has stuck with me is that of whirling dervishes. Similar to flowers opening up in midst of a whirlwind, a dance that starts out slow and picks up speed until it mesmerizes, whirling dervishes capture the attention of the poet at heart. Whirling dervishes, an aspect of the Sufi sect of the Muslim religion, is greatly influenced by the poetry of the Great Sufi Mystic Poet, Mevlana Rumi. Similar to the early Franciscans of the Christianity, Sufis also lived a bare bone existence during the era of Rumi. Their quest was to unite with God through music, dance, and poetry. The Gulizar Turkish Music Ensemble led by kanun virtuoso Tahir Ayodgdu, captures the essence of whirling dervishes and the medie...

Transkapela Klezmer Carpathian Music Arc Music Oddly enough, a few days after I received Transkapela's recording, Klezmer Carpathian Music in the mail, I heard another Carpathian folk group, (Carpathian Folk Quartet), featured on a community radio show. Prior to visiting Arc Music's site and checking out their new releases, I had never heard of Carpathian folk or otherwise. Yet, this music which can be described as bright, warm, and a frolic in the snows of the Carpathian mountains, threatens to lift any dark mood. Try it! Transkapela plays mainly Eastern European Jewish klezmer music spiced with some wild gypsy punch. Ewa Wasilewska handles violin duties, and in her hands, that violin sets this thundering music ablaze. Maciej Filipczuk plays violin and trumpet fiddle (see the photo in the liner notes), Piotre Pniewski switches between cello and drum, and you can hear Robert Wasilewski's cimbalom (hammered dulcimer), shimmering throughout the recording. He a...