Alia Vox  AVSA9902 (3 discs)

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Vocal

Singers:
Meral Azizoglu (Turkey); Irini Derebei (Greece); Gürsoy Dinçer (Turkey); Lior Elmaleh (Israel); Montserrat Figueras (Spain); Tcha Limberger (Belgium/Manouche); Marc Mauillon (France); Amira Medunjanin (Bosnia); Stoimenka Outchikova-Nedyalkova (Bulgaria); Agi Szalóki (Hungary); Zacharias Spyridakis (Cyprus)

Instrumentalists:
Musicians of Bulgaria and Macedonia (Nedyalko Nedyalkov, kaval; Peyo Peev, gadulka; Valeri Dimchev, tambura; Stoian Yankulov, tupan [also for the vocal piece on disc 3, No. 4])

Hungarian musicians for vocal pieces (Nedyalko Nedyalkov, kaval; Dimitri Psonis, santur; Yurdal Tokcan, oud; Jordi Savall, lire d’archet; Pedro Estevan, percussion)

Gypsy musicians (Tcha Limberger, violin; Janos Dani, bracs; Gyula Csík, cymbalum; Vilmos Csikos, doublebass [also for the vocal piece on disc 1, No. 15])

Serbian & Romanian musicians (Bora Dugic, frula; Milan Nešovic, guitar; Slobodan Prodanovic, accordion; Marko Lazovic, violin; Jordi Savall, dessus de viole; Slobodan Markovic, orgue; Mihailo Blam, doublebass)

Greek musicians (Zacharias Spyridakis, lyre grecque; Nedyalko Nedyalkov, kaval; Hakan Güngör, kanun; Yurdal Tokcan, oud; Dimitri Psonis, santur, saz, lafta et guitare morisque; Jordi Savall, lyre d’archet et dessus de viole; Pedro Estevan & Fahrettin Yarkin, percussion [also for the vocal piece on disc 2, No. 8])

Bosnian and Turkish musicians for vocal pieces (Stavros Kouskouridas, clarinet; Moslem Rahal, ney; Hakan Güngör, kanun; Yurdal Tokcan, oud; Fahrettin Yarkin, percussion)

Turkish musicians for instrumentals (Nedyalko Nedyalkov, kaval; Hakan Güngör, kanun; Yurdal Tokcan, oud; Driss El Maloumi, oud; Jordi Savall, lyre d’archet; Derya Türkan, kemençe; Murat Salim Tokaç, tanbur; Dimitri Psonis, santur; Pedro Estevan & Fahrettin Yarkin, percussion)

Armenian musicians (Haïg Sarikouyoumdjian, duduk; Jordi Savall, dessus de viole)

Sephardic musicians (Moslem Rahal, ney; Yair Dalal, oud; Erez Shmuel Mounk, percussion; Driss El Maloumi, oud; Arianna Savall & Jordi Savall, rebab et dessus de viole; Pedro Estevan, percussion [also for the vocal piece on disc 2, No. 7])

Jordi Savall, Rebab, lyre d’archet, dessus de viole et Direction


The name of the Balkans has an unusually graphic etymology. Having discovered the beauty of this pivotal part of Europe and experienced the ruggedness of its people (who put up fierce resistance to invasion), the Turks chose to describe the region with the words Bal (Honey) and Kan (Blood). Never was there so apt a metaphor. On this new set from Alia Vox, Jordi Savall presents an ambitious program that explores the length and breadth of a region that has always had more than its share of human and historical drama. Joined by guest musicians from the Balkan region, Savall traces the cycles of life, structured around the four seasons of the year and the corresponding seasons of human life. The set features nearly four hours of spellbinding music, accompanied by a lavishly documented 616 page CD-Book. A full track listing is available upon request.