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 Rüstem Mahmudov. All the tracks in the album are composed of Alevi folksongs and aphorisms.

Hü can be interpreted as a modern day reappearance of the tradition where “Old Time Minstrels” used to come together to practice music and engage in battles of poetic repartee. In fact the Alevi culture, just as described in the folksongs and aphorisms, is always in a state of exile. It is due to this fact that the Alevi culture has always received the other Anatolian cultures with open arms, and has both influenced and been influenced.

The fact that these unbounded musicians, who come from different ethnic cultures, come together in sounding the “Hü”, signifies the solidarity and indulgence music creates in our spiritual worlds.

The emotional depth evoked by the haunting and enchanting sound of the bağlama, at times grave and solemn, at times meditative and ecstatic, makes accessible the drama of human existence in its Anatolian form, and reveals probably more about Alevi culture than any other Alevi practice. Some of the songs of the Alevi bard circle around themes of mystical and worldly love, desire, and devotion, others around profane - but not less sacred - themes of friendship and enmity, while others are more closely connected with Alevi specific mythology and the mystical path.

The Alevi tradition, which is sometimes represented in terms of culture, sometimes as philosophy or way of life, and sometimes as religion, is shaped by complex historical memories that comprise Shia-Islamic mythology, remembered stories of revolt, defeat, and displacement, and locally specific narratives of sacred men and holy lineages of Anatolia and its adjacent territories. Alevi tradition is historically a rural tradition, and with immigration to urban environments its songs have become an important tool of emotional reconnection and imaginations of Turkish and Kurdish Anatolia, its soil, culture, and stories.