I am very happy to annouce that my twelfth CD is released. Available on itunes, spotify, it is also in print, perhaps the last CD to be so.
Music and water have formally been used by our ancestors for therapeutic purposes, offering remedy to the troubled and cure to the ill. The enterprise that made Ayasofya Hürrem Sultan Hamam regain its hamam identity considered that hamam and music should be intertwined and this is when our paths crossed to collaborate. In the album, the otherworldly vibrations of the çeng, a medieval Ottoman harp, are accompanied by vocals, tanbur, lavta and bendir playing.
This is a vision of what relaxation music can be, filtered through the aethetics of Ottoman music, with old and new ideas stylized to soothe the listener. I found great inspiration both in the building and the hamam tradition. The music consists of new and special compositions, early works and improvisations and was recorded by incorporating the natural sounds of the hamam such as the running and splashing of water, the bowls used in the bathing ritual and the heavy doors isolating the different sections of the edifice and much more.
I hope it offers peace and quiet.