Mehmet Polat Trio
‘Ask your heart’
Band:
Mehmet Polat – Ud & Compositions
Dymphi Peetrs – Kora
Sinan Arat – Ney
Repertory:
1- Untouched stories
2- Dance it out
3- Sandcastles
4- Neşet
5- Whispering to waves
6- Ask your heart
7- Evening prayer
8- Everything is in you
9- Serenity
10- Simorgh
11- Mardin
and 11. vocals by Mehmet Polat
Hello and merhaba,
While you are enjoying this album, I want to share a few words with you about it.
This album was made possible in part by the huge effort of fellow musicians Dymphi Peeters (kora) and Sinan Arat (ney). I am grateful to them for their precious contributions during the preparation process. Sinan has supported this journey with his ney since the beginning of the Mehmet Polat Trio in the summer of 2013. I met multi-instrumentalist Dymphi while she was playing n’goni and singing along with it at an Amsterdam jam session. Soon after she joined the Mehmet Polat Trio as a kora player, and with her broad musical experience she has added her color to the contemporary context of the mix.
I sometimes compare recording an album to creating a garden. I see my compositions as seeds, to be planted in the right garden in the right season. After planting I must give them water and help them flourish. Many musical ideas I’ve been cultivating over the past years came together in this album. As gardens need space to breathe and grow, my compositions always include ample space to improvise.
On the album you can hear the outcome of combining our traditional instruments and world music influences to create something contemporary. I am a fan of implementing Latin syncopations in the Balkan rhythms. In Dance it out, Ask your heart and Everything is in you these influences can be felt in the melodies and ud solos. With my custom-made ud with two extra bass strings I was able to play reggae bass lines in Neşet under a gypsy rhythm from Turkey. Or sound like an upright bass in the jazzy Whispering to waves. Sinan added a touch of Asian flutes in Untouched Stories and Neşet. Dymphi brought the color of harp to Whispering to waves and a kanun-like quality to Serenity. Simorgh illustrates my special bond with Persian classical music.
Microtonality is an important element of our music traditions. Sandcastles, Neşet, Evening prayer, Serenity, Simorgh and Mardin feature specific makams such as Hicaz, Hüzzam, Uşşak, Afshari and Rast.
This album for me is a musical release, it’s a way finding my voice and connecting to my roots. In Evening prayer and Mardin I sang two ‘gazel’ from my hometown of Urfa in Turkey.
Ask your heart is the second album of my Mehmet Polat Trio. The debut album Next Spring (released in Autumn 2014) with kora player Zoumana Diarra. If you have listened to the debut album as well you perhaps can feel the connections between the albums and how the compositions have evolved over time.
Music for me is a connection from heart to heart. I invite you to open your heart to the music and let it come to you.
Mehmet Polat
* Lyrics in Evening prayer:
Poem by Leyla Hanım, the music (gazel) I learned from: Kazancı Bedih (a local master of music from Urfa, Turkey)
Original:
Rahmeyle bu dil haste-i naçare ilahi,
Zahm-i dilime senden ola çare İlahi.
Bir mücrim-i asi kulunam ruy-ı siyahım,
Affınla nazar kıl bu günahkare İlahi.
Bakma yüzümün karasına ruz-ı cezada,
Bağışla bizi Ahmed-i Muhtare İlahi.
…
Al benliğimi kaydı sivadan beni kurtar,
Ta vasıl olam ru’yet-i didare İlahi.
Leyla kulunu ateşi aşkınla kebab et,
Duzahta koyup yakma bizi nare İlahi.
Brief translation to English:
(Dear divine) Please help this powerless being in despair, may you help me heal my heartache
I am your disobedient creation, please forgive me
Please don’t look at the shame on my face with punishment in your gaze, forgive my sins for the sake of Ahmed (the prophet)
Take away my ego and save me from engaging with others, so that I can reach out to you
Allow Leyla to burn with your love, rather than being burned in the afterlife.
* Lyrics in 11. Mardin.
Poem by Fuzuli, the music (gazel) I learned from: Ahmet Uzungöl (a local master of music from Urfa, Turkey)
Original:
Hâsılım yok ser-i kûyunda belâdan gayrı
Garâzım yok reh-i aşkında fenâdan gayrı
Ney-i bezm-i gamem ey âh ne bulsan yele ver
Oda yanmış kuru cismimde hevâdan gayrı
…
Brief English translation:
By coming close to you I get nothing but trouble, I have no other goal than sacrificing myself for your love.
I am the grieving ney of sorrow. Throw everything to the wind, whatever remains from my being than my desires, which was burnt in the fire.