Sans Souci

As a Kurdish musician, born in the south of Turkey, now resident in France, Ruşan Filiztek is celebrating the music of the many peoples of Anatolia, from the Greeks and Armenians, to the Kurds and Ottoman Turks – to list them in order of their settlement in the region. The songs are juxtaposed and the influences mixed up, which is the point, as the music of this region isn’t pure. The album’s title Sans Souci (Without Cares), comes from a Breton song, one of the minority groups within France. The song, in French, is very beautiful, sung by Filiztek in a falsetto voice accompanied by a delicate three-string saz (long-necked lute).

There are two Armenian tracks, featuring the reedy duduk of Artyom Minasyan, who also plays on the opening Kurdish track ‘Ahmedo Ronî’. There are two Greek tracks.

Filiztek sings all the vocals in five languages and mainly accompanies on seven-string saz, which he also uses for some impressive instrumental tracks between the songs, such as the magisterial ‘Ô Mon Zeybek’ or the lively ‘Xifşê’. Filiztek has a capable, but not outstanding voice, so this album is more interesting for the vision of combining the music of these differing and, too often, conflicting people on the territory of Anatolia.