The path from the Balkan to the Middle East crosses many borders. Despite the geographical distance the music is closely connected: Ottomanian, Byzantinian and Anatolian roots, Balkan rhythms and Oriental scales form already for centuries an amalgam of related traditions.
In the steaming metropole of Istanbul musicians like Kamil Erdem and Fathi Ahiskali connect these old traditions with contemporary influences. Together with multiflutist Mark Alban Lotz and Schotisch Rhythm and Sound wizard Alan ‘Gunga’ Purves they form an exciting quartet balancing between tradition and trends, composition and improvisation, east and west.
