Gayda İstanbul fallows the traces of a cultural atmosphere reaching from the Balkans out to the Thrace and İstanbul, and under the guidance of these traces, unveils the contemporary themes and brand new musical expressions.
Baba ZuLa go to great lengths to provide their fans with a unique live show experience. Their
ritual like performances are a mixture of disciplines of art, often featuring belly dancers,
elaborate costumes, poetry, theatre and live drawing, delivering viewers a tantalizing audiovisual feast.
By mixing oriental instruments such as the darbuka, electric saz, and spoons with electronics
and modern sounds, BaBa ZuLa creates a sound that has been labelled as 'space sound of
istanbul', "Oriental Dub" or 'contemporary istanbul folk '
Imam’s sound is like injecting a Greek band of the 1950’s into a modern sound system. To begin with, take samples from old Greek tunes and Balkan music. Base them on a solid rhythm section with live percussion & drums and sampled hip hop, rumba and samba beats. Mix all that with Balkan sax, clarinet, trumpet and bagpipe solos. Spice it up with rembetiko inspired bouzouki parts and gipsy guitar riffs. And don’t forget the vocal part: MC Yinka warming up the crowd with his uplifting ragga flows and Lady Faye reaching out to your hearts with her soulful voice.
There you have it: Imam Baildi playing live. The tunes come from their album, recent compositions and Balkan music. It’s expressly done to get everyone dancing.
When he takes the stage with his group Secret Tribe, he hovers at the side behind his turntables and electronics, occasionally picking up a traditional wooden flute, or ney to float in sweet, breathy melodies, while masters of the kanun (zither), clarinet, darbuka (hand drum) and whatever other instruments he’s decided to include that night, ornament his grooves and spin magical, trance melodies to match the whirling of the group’s spectacular dervish dancer.
Modern day reappearance of the tradition where “Old Time Minstrels” used to come together...
This special project was undertaken by Cem Yıldız who has been trained in the field of Turkish Folk Music. The album was shaped by the contributions of Jean Pierre Smadj, French musician of Tunisia origin, who has released many albums and taken place in various projects over Europe and Turkey, and Uzbek composer and arranger Rüstam Mahmudzade. All the tracks in the album are composed of Alevi folksongs and aphorisms.