Mehmet Polat
Ageless garden
1- Hasret
2- Aylan
3- Hasbihal
4- Aftab
5- My Urfa
6- Something is moving
7- Embrace it
8- A wise touch
9- In solitude
10- An Anatolian bulerías
Compositions by Mehmet Polat
Guest musicians:
Alper Kekec (Turkey) Darbuka, daf and frame drums 1, 2, 5, 10
Pasha Karami (Iran) Tombak 3, 4
Shaho Andalibi (Iran) Ney 7
Yama Sarshar (Afghanistan) Tabla 6
Zoumana Diarra (Mali) Kora 7
Aftab Records
Catalogue number: MP59
mehmetpolat.net
Music has been the best language with which to express my inner world for more than 30 years. And for the last 20 years, ud has been the main instrument on this journey. I composed these ten compositions during different phases of my life as a migrant musician. And I play them on this album through the lens of my vision of today.
The pieces on this album reflect this inner world, which is affected by the world and people around me, past and present. The first two pieces ‘Hasret’ and ‘Aylan’ are dedicated to people whose stories broke my heart when I learned about them. Hasret Gültekin, a talented young musician, was tragically burnt during a massive attack by fundamentalists in Sivas, Turkey in 1993. Aylan, a small Kurdish boy from Syria, was drowned in the sea during his family’s ill-fated attempt to flee altogether in a small boat to Europe.
‘Hasbihal’ means a deep and sincere conversation in Persian, as well as in Turkish. More than any other, I found the deepest connection to my emotions in this piece in recent years. ‘Aftab’ means ‘sun’ in Persian, which represents life and growth for me.
The city of my birth where I spent my youth, Urfa, is one of the important culture capitals of Mesopotamia. I have been living far away from there for nearly 20 years. Through the nostalgic composition ‘My Urfa‘ I emphasized my city’s musical diversity, which is highly influenced by Arabic and Kurdish music.
With ‘Something is moving‘ I revived my master’s studies work in Indian music. Within an Indian frame, I explored various musical influences I have gathered. ‘Embrace it‘ is a meeting of African rhythms with a very specific Persian dastgah (musical modal system) called ‘chahargah’. I have always been mesmerized by the emotional outcome of this combination. ‘A wise touch‘ and ‘In solitude‘ are the compositions where I was with myself, and by myself. I am fan of taking the musical influences not too literally, but using them in my own way. In ‘An Anatolian bulerías‘ I implemented Flamenco pulses in a 7/8 rhythm. I invite you to open your heart to the music and let it come to you.
Produced by Mehmet Polat, Recorded and mixed by Zoli Soos, Mastered by Zoli Soos & Kölcsényi Attila, Layout by Pınar Karaaslan, Cover photo by İzzet Aran.