SOSSmadjPoets and musicians pine for happiness in order to share it with their peers. Happiness, this fleeting impression of eternity torn out of life. If he is honest the musician is both poet and traveller. Poetry knows no frontiers, no matter what men's laws try to do to alter this truth. Turkish music is sought after or shunned by three continents, and it never ceases to accommodate other influences. Yet it never stops being itself. This is what attract poets to Istanbul: the guarantee they will hear plenty and the promise they can sing a little.
As with Turkey, Smadj's roots crisscross several continents: African Tunisian through his forefathers and French European through his childhood. He forged his musical education by exploring the musical resources of these two poles. Today he masters the 'oud as well as he plays with computer programmes. His primary aim Is to share the elixir of these chants and the voluptuous nature of his grooves. Drawn to and inspired by Istanbul, he has ended up settling there and meeting his peers. There is Orhan Osman, this other Greek European who has come to see what his bouzouki, guitars, banjo or other string instruments he could harmonise with. Alongside him, Savas Zurnaci, a perpetual traveller, a wizard of a gipsy whose clarinet is promised in marriage to the sky. They both understood Smadj's project in a flash and accepted to explore with him its last furrowed melodies made of contemporary and numerical rhythms.
They need little coaxing. The duo settle down, repaint the music's phrasing in their own manner, lay out their colours and direct their lights to where they shine best. The meeting proves to be exceptional and is enhanced by more invited friends. One is there to steal the light with his violin, the two others to enrich the percussions. Together they suggest dreams, they offer dances. They inaugurate a new type of festive gathering: the electronic "fasil". The band nears total ecstasy and makes us believe in happiness. And never again will we forget that poets are always right. |
