Performers: Kâni Karaca (voice), Aka Gündüz Kutbay (ney)
Playing time: 138'
Recording date: unknown; released: 2009
Kâni Karaca (1930-2004) was a blind Hafiz, reciter of Quran & Sufi religious texts, and his voice forges a powerful lead here (comparing with e.g. Persian repertory), but seemingly as important to the overall outcome is Aka Gündüz Kutbay (1934-1979) on ney. The latter also became something of a legend, interested in a variety of music beyond Turkish traditional repertories, and with a fondness for recording — as here. (In this same series, he also released the two volume mostly-solo Aşk recitals.) Here the presentation is very unusual in the sense that Kutbay is still in the process of teaching Karaca the music from notation (which Karaca, who was otherwise Kutbay's teacher, couldn't read), and there're occasional breaks to talk about that. The result has a real spontaneity & gravity, illustrating what was already an old tradition, in the process (briefly) of being rediscovered. So this is another unique recording.
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T. M. McComb