Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble

Songs: Makam Ussak [excerpt]^* + Makam Toronto

Recorded at Aga Khan Museum, April 15, 2023.

Labyrinth Ensemble - Makam Ussak [excerpt]

Labyrinth Ensemble - Makam Toronto

It's always a delight to be able to catch the Labyrinth Ensemble in full flight. Once more, this concert was based on the principle of bringing in a world-class expert (in this case, Greek mandolinist Evgenios Voulgaris) to spend some intensive rehearsal time with the group before presenting what they've learned to the public. Voulgaris brought a selection of 17th-century works collected by Romanian prince Dimitrie Cantemir, showcasing the cultural connections being forged in the court of the Ottoman Empire. The show was presented as a pair of suites, each united by a particular makam, or mode, with the ensemble seguing from one piece to the next by honing in on individual members, giving everyone space in the foreground before showing how their sound is woven into the larger perspective. The first piece here highlights MFS fave Naomi McCarroll-Butler's saxophone work while the latter is a brand new piece (in the combiniation-of-things "Toronto mode") that Voulgaris wrote for the group while in the city.

The full ensemble for this show was: Evgenios Voulgaris – oud and yaylı tambur; Sadaf Amini – santur; Yang Chen – riqq, bendir; Burak Ekmekci – baglama; Michael K. Harrist – yayli tanbur; Pedram Khavarzamini – tombak; Roa Lee – gayageum; Naomi McCarroll-Butler – saxophone, clarinet, and bass clarinet; John McKinnon – electric bass; Scott Peterson – upright bass; Araz Salek – tar; Marta Solek – cello and greek lyra; Tev Stevig – tanbur and oud; Aysel Taghi-Zada – violin; Amely Zhou – erhu.

[Labyrinth Ontario will be hosting an instrument library at City Hall as part of Doors Open Toronto next weekend (May 27th + 28th). Visitors are welcome to come by all weekend and explore the space and hear demonstrations!]

^* As mentioned above, this is a segment of the set-long suite of ussak music. Please leave a comment in you know the name(s) of the partricular piece(s)!