www.musicforshepherdsandsultans.com
It was during a residence on the San Giorgio Maggiore Island of Venice, back in May 2013, that Cypriot violinist Michalis Kouloumis and Belgian oud player Tristan Driessens first played together. They have been working side by side ever since, increasingly exploring their common interest in modal music of the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond. With the recording of Music for Shepherds and Sultans, the duet embarks on what is just the beginning of a closer partnership, with Catalan multi-instrumentalist Miriam Encinas joining them on frame drums. The album organically fluctuates from original compositions in classical Ottoman style to anonymous rural dances of Cyprus. With this choice of repertoire and especially with their way of interpreting it, Michalis Kouloumis, Tristan Driessens and Miriam Encinas bridge a gap between classical and folk music. Compositions such as Isfahan Saz Semaisi or Köyde Sabah somehow reflect how classical music has always been deeply inspired by folk music legacies. The musicians of Shepherds and Sultans believe that folk traditions, originally rooted in daily life’s rituals, draw their expressiveness from a cyclical journey of constant transmission and renewal, which defines their actual legitimacy trough time and space.
THE PRESS ABOUT MUSIC FOR SHEPHERDS AND SULTANS
“In an inspired and natural way the compositions shine, as if they always existed…”
Musicframes (NL)“Impressive how two worlds can come together and, if anything, even more impressive is the way the three musicians manage to inscribe themselves in often centuries-old tradition.”
Rootstime (BE)“Music For Shepherds And Sultans closes the gap between classical and folk music based on the Ottoman Empire, Cyprus included.”
Keys & Chords (BE)“If modal jazz had flourished under the Ottoman Empire, it might have sounded like this.”
Ted Gioa (US)“Kouloumis’ Cypriot violin playing with its distinctive swoops and ornamentations is the highlight” *** Songlines (GB)
Top 20 World Music Charts Europe (July, August 2023)
“The almost poignant intensity with which music is played that keeps you listening with red ears.” Mixed World Music (NL)
“Again, the gap between classical and traditional music from the Ottoman Empire is seamlessly closed, in an engaging instrumental feast.” New Folk Sounds (NL)
Album credits:
Recorded 23 – 25 November 2022
Homerecords, Studio Sphères Sonores, Liège
Engineer: Jean-François Hustin
Assistant: Antoine Litt
Edited by Miriam Encinas Laffitte
Mixed and mastered by Jean-François Hustin
Cover photo: Manuel Baud-Bovy
Inside photo: Aristea Tzanou
Group photo: Laura Soriano
Cover design: Jan-Sebastiaan De Geyter
