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Laço
Tayfa represents a new synthesis within the Turkish Roma
(Gypsy) tradition. Under the leardership of clarinetist
Hüsnü Şenlendirici, Laço Tayfa brings Turkish regional folk
music into dialogue with contemporary world music styles,
fired by a driving Roma improvisational style known as "doğaçlama".
The name "Laço Tayfa" is a synthesis of Romani and Turkish:
"laço" is a Romani world meaning "good"; "tayfa" is an Arabic
transplant into Turkish connoting a combined work group,
extended family and musical ensemble. "Laço Tayfa" suggests
the energy of good musical work, forged out of firendships,
shared visions and histories, and coooperative explorations
via improvisation and exprerimentation. Laço Tayfa was recently
heard on Brooklyn Funk Essential's In the Buzzbag, a syncretic
project bringing hip hop, funk , reggae, and rap genres
into dialogue with Turkish music and improvisation.
Hüsnü Şenlendirici comes from a family
of musicians from the Turkish Aegean coastal town of Bergama,
where local Roma musicians play for local inhabitants of
different ethnic groups. Interestingly, in this area Roma
musicians play versions of brass band instruments. A typical
traditional wedding band consists of clarinet, trumpet,
snare durm and a double-headed folk bass drum called "davul".
The Şenlendirici family has consisted of musicians playing
clarinet and trumpet for generations, hence the meaning
of their last name, "the ones who create celebrations".
Hüsnü's grandfather played trumpet and clarinet, while his
father, Ergün, became a highly celebrated trumpet player
who moved out of the regional wedding circuit to join studio,
conccert and touring musicians working out of İstanbul.
After training at the state music conservatory in İstanbul,
Hüsnü joined his father in concerts and recording with world
music artists such as Okay Temiz, touring Europe and United
States. Hüsnü also particapted in local avant-garde experiments,
such as the fusing of Roma improvisatory style, Turkish
melodies and Western classical and jazz harmonies, as pioneered
by Engin Düzyol. While seeking new musical challenges, Hüsnü
remanins grounded in local Roma and Turkish urban styles,
performing at weddings, with urban singing stars at concerts
and on recordings.
For this project with Laço Tayfa, Hüsnü
works with tradional folk material from each of the regions
of Turkey, using signature Roma tunes as a basis for a new
synthesis which incorporates jazz harmonies, riffs and textures
with Indian tabla as well as North African and Arabic rhythmic
patterns. In this repertoire, Hüsnü also presents sounds
from his native region, such as 9/8 meter Roma wedding pieces
with driving melodic solos in the Aegean style, the melody
of an Aegean folk dance form (zeybek) known as Harmandalı
with solo clarinet and davul in the manner of a neighborhood
wedding and an impassioned interpretation of an Aegean urban
folk song, İzmir'in kavakları. Within traditional treatments
of these diverse regional styles Hüsnü embeds new improvisations.
Thus the Black Sea piecces maintain the characteristic parallel
4th harmonies, but add suprising twists and silences. The
Rumeli (Turkish Balkan) repertoire of Deryalar and Ramize
incorporate Roma Macedonian harmonies in 3rds. The Central
Anatolian tune from Fidayda is performed in the bağlama
style characteristic of its origins, but moves into an electro-bağlama
solo which imitates the guitar. The musicians joining Hüsnü
in Laço Tayfa are from Bergama and İzmir.
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