The March Bandcamp Friday brought two timely musicians’ initiatives of charity solidarity with the people of Turkey and Syria in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes.
The Berlin-based alternative label Shameless Rocks, run by Austrian multi-instrumentalist Boris Hauf, together with violinist Biliana Voutchkova, initiated the Zelzele compilation, featuring musicians mostly from the Berlin and Vienna free music scenes, all contributing new pieces. The title means big shake, turbulence, tremor, or earthquake in Turkish as well as in Kurmanji Kurdish, in Persian and in dozens of other languages with small variations.The noun is borrowed from the Arabic word زَلْزَلَة.
This compilation is divided into Hauf’s short, unsettling synth drones, some recall sirens, and all frame the melancholic and introspective atmosphere of the album. Voutchkova contributed an evocative and haunting violin duo with Clara Levy titled “Alineof cotton”. Double bass player Vinicius Cajado and guitarist and electronics player Martin Siewert sketch the mysterious and cinematic “tres”. Double bass player Christian Weber plays an urgent and melancholic solo by the name “five sisters”. American koto player Miya Masaoka and cellist Joan Jeanrenau updated their continuous field recording project “for birds, planes and cello” for this project, with a beautiful, peaceful and hopeful piece, suggesting some rays of hope to the human tragedy.
Listen and contribute here: https://shamelessrocks.bandcamp.com/album/zelzele
The second compilation is much more varied and was released by the London-based Zel Zele label which “brings mind-bending sounds from dusty crates to contemporary artists”. El Ele means hand in hand in Turkish and this album unites musicians from all over the globe to raise awareness through music. This 21-track compilation expresses solidarity with a wide musical palette spanning jazz, rock, new-wave, ambient, experimental and dub, with a focus on Turkish musicians like Metin Demiral, bassist Bahtiyar Taş, Konstrukt and Karhana’s multi-instrumentalist Umut Çağlar, percussionist Berke Can Ozcan, British-Turkish Silhouwaves, producer Can Aksan, Erkin Gören and sound artist Koray Kantarcıoğlu. It features also features contributions from the sax duo of Tamar Osborn & Idris Rahman, the free improvising unit Ill Considered, Portuguese vocal artist Ece Canli and ends with the uplifting music of the quartet of Angélica Salvi, Ece Canlı, João Pais Filipe and Pedro Augusto.
Listen and contribute here: https://zelzelerecords.bandcamp.com/album/el-ele-solidarity-in-the-aftermath-of-turkey-syria-earthquakes
Eyal Harteuveni
