Old World Tangos Vol 4: Istanbul Tango (1927-1953)

These fascinating Old World Tango collections explore various European and Oriental incarnations of the Argentinian form that spread outwards from Paris in the first decades of the 20th century. The first two volumes included singers from Russia, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Algeria, the third was focussed on Poland and this one chronicles the 30 years when tango was popular in Turkey. The music on this disc is completely European – it’s tango filtered through Paris and the Balkans. The first recordings date from the early years of the Turkish Republic, when Ataturk was keen on Europeanising the Turkish sound.

It was 1927 when the first Turkish tango was recorded, played on the piano by Muhlis Sabahattin Ezgi. The disc follows this with a largely chronological selection featuring some of the top vocalists – including the women Seyyan Hanim (one is tempted to call her the Turkish Edith Piaf), Birsen Alan and Hikmet Hanim and men, Ibrahim Ozgur, Celal Ince and Secaattin Tanyerli. The orchestrations feature swooping strings, often with an accordion or piano in the mix. The style is strongly influenced by the sound of ‘silver age’ operetta between the wars, but is particularly seductive when it is deliberately Oriental, as in Hikmet Hanim’s ‘Git Artik’ and Birsen Alan’s ‘Zehra’ and ‘Cemile, the latter with a Gypsy-sounding clarinet sounding like an advert for Turkish delight.