Country of Origin
With millions of music tracks at our daily beck 'n' call, off the cloud like sweet rain on demand, here are a few which I recently cued up. We start with Julia Boutros' album Yawman Ma and the song "Shou el helo fik".
Next comes an instrumental with electrified cello compliments of Cag Ercag's "Kadim Cag" from the Aydinlik Evler album. Mercan Dede adds tasty atmospherics.
Staying with an instrumental but swapping cello for meandering bass guitar, here's Patrick Chartol's justly titled "Oriental Bass" from his album Istanbul.
Adding vocals both female and male arrives us at "From green to green" on Mamak Khadem's album A Window to Color in a Dead Can Dance vein.
Another world music diva is Turkey's Sezen Aksu, here with "Kördügüm" from her Biraz Pop Biraz Sezen album.
To stay with the genre, we get to Yasmin Levy's "Rak od layla echad".
Back to a glorious instrumental segues into Kol Simcha's "Those very short moments of absolute happiness" from their Noah album. Was there ever a better track title?
Staying in the watery mood flows with "Watersong" to that other Swiss electric harpist, the late Asita Hamidi and her Bazaar ensemble.
From the same Harem's Secret 3 compilation, we get to Bilal Karamam's "Mavi Pansiyon".
For more water, Arto Tunkboyaciyan's plaintive song pronounces "I'm simple like water" from his Voyage en Armenie album.
Then we pick the classic "Kimseye etmem sikayet" song which every mature Turkish songstress worth her sugar must record, here Funda Arar.
Volkan Konak's "Ben denizde biz gemi" from his Manolya album follows in the Anatolian vein.
That sets the pace for Rubato's album Bir with "Mashupanelere attim postumu" and Göksun Cavdar's bass clarinet.
To wrap up, we visit the soundtrack to Subdue with Homayoun Shajarian's evocative "Ahay Khabardar".
And now time's up.
