Kayhan Kalhor & Erdal Erzincan - The Wind (2006)

In this follow-up to The Rain, his Grammy-nominated outing with the group Ghazal, the revered Iranian kamencheh (spike fiddle) virtuoso is back with another wonderful set of collaborators. This time, he is heard with Erdal Erzincan, master of the Turkish baglama (or saz), which resembles a long-necked oud but has a more earthy, plangent sound, accompanied by Ulas Özdemir on bass baglama. This first-ever recording of these two giants performing together is the result of extensive research, during which Mr. Kalhor made several visits over many years to Istanbul with Mr. Özdemir, who is also a noted musicologist, serving as his guide and translator. Once he encountered Mr. Erzincan, who is widely considered to be the finest living exponent of the ancient Anatolian tradition, they started searching for a common ground between their respective disciplines. This meant creating a bridge, over which the highly improvisational Persian sources and the more codified Turkish styles, which usually include vocals, could meet and flourish on their own terms. The resulting twelve instrumentals are fiercely inventive and gloriously played, as scratchy bowed and gutty plucked strings climb and dive, propelling one another to previously unimagined heights and depths. --Christina Roden