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DVDfever.co.uk – Dogan Mehmet: Gypsyhead CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Hobgoblin Records
- Released: September 2009
- Rating: 10/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Intoxicating brew of East meets West.
When the Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin introduced eastern flavours into rock music it turned the genre on its head, and opened the floodgates.
Now teenage Turkish -Cypriot Dogan Mehmet, from Brighton, has masterfully infused them into folk music. In 2008 he was runner-up in the 2008 BBC Young Folk Awards.
Vocally, sounding way beyond his 19 years, Mehmet, a superb violinist and percussionist, has masterfully combined Anglo-Turkish traditions and has pulled it off with aplomb, using a handy five-piece band called The Deerhunters Tom Wright (drums / percussion) Tom Redman (bass guitar / French horn) Matt Price (guitars) Matt Quinn (mandolin / mandolin-banjo) Colin Nicholson piano accordion / keyboards) who play a major part in the success of this album.Many of these songs are traditional except where noted (see tracks), and they curiously sit comfortably next to each other.
Its a dramatic and beguiling Eastern start with a drone-like backdrop slightly dressed with shimmering but understated violin before the standard 18th century Scottish tale Wraggle Taggle Gypsies, (aka The Gypsy Laddie, or Black Jack Davy) unfolds into a steady jaunt.A slow, but equally exquisite self-penned The Raging Seas taken from stories told by his grandfather combines Turkish / English elements while West Pier beautifully laments the demise of the Brighton Pier in March 2003 with plashes of keyboards which segues seamlessly into dazzling violin solo over an Eastern drone for the improvised slow air Ozun Hava from the Turkish instrumental tradition.
Ceftetelli, common among Turks and Greek, one of those tracks that makes you want get into a belly dance routine.
Dillirga is a full-on celebration of beautiful girls boasting sizzling violin and chants, whereas Ozman Aga, an upbeat traditional gypsy song tells the tale of a man from the Ottoman times, featuring a slipped-in tune written by band member Tom Wright, called Eighteen Months.The same trick is done again with a Glen Redman song Southover interwoven into a pulsating southern English standard The Lawyer (Mowing The Barley) aka Lawyer Lee by Cecil James Sharp, Britains leading folk revivalist in the 20th century.
Closing a great album, Mehmet delved into the Penguin Book Of English Folk Song (1912) for The Royal Oak, a English ship caught up in a battle with a Turkish ship. A riff by The Who inspired the main musical hook of this engaging near six minute wonder with Matt Quinns mandolin-banjo running amok.This CD will appear to both folk purists and the generally inquisitive – you wont be disappointed.
The verdict A very special album.
Weblink:doganmehmet.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Wraggle Taggle Gypsies
2. The Raging Seas (Mehmet)
3. West Pier (Mehmet)
4. Uzun Hava
5. Ceftetelli
6. Dillirga
7. Susta
8. Seventeen Come Sunday / De Montfort Stand (Redman)
9. Ozman Aga / Eighteen Months (Wright)
10. The Lawyer / Southover (Redman)
11. Gulpembe (Manco)
12. The Royal Oak / Jackie TarView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.