Upcoming release: A Tribute to the Masters – 20th Century Composers of Istanbul

Description

With A Tribute to the Masters – 20th Century Composers of Istanbul, Tristan Driessens presents an album which primarily highlights the oud as a solo instrument. With its renderings of masterpieces composed by Refik Fersan, Haydar Bey, Cinuçen Tanrıkorur, Sadı Isılay and Yurdal Tokcan, it is the Belgian oud player’s love letter to Istanbul – his second homeland during his years of training -, as well as a tribute to his oud masters Necati Celik and Yurdal Tokcan. Classical Ottoman and up-tempo traditional tunes are intertwined with short improvised interludes which contain the typical flavors one expects when listening to the Turkish oud. With their plaintive minimalism, these taksims read like nostalgic and often deeply sincere miniatures where Tristan Driessens reflects on his Istanbul years. They provide a welcome counterbalance in an otherwise predominately catchy album.

With his long-term friend Levent Yıldırım accompanying him on every rhythmical track, Tristan Driessens teams up with one of the present day’s most virtuosic percussionists. Widely considered the foremost pioneer of the dohola (Egyptian bass darbouka) as a solo instrument, Levent Yıldırım rightly does not only appear as a side man on this album. He showcases his technically dazzling signature style with multi-layered solos which appear on groovy tracks like Pembe kız, Trabzoni bar and Sultaniyegah sirto. Melody and rhythm enhance each other at all times, conveying to the listening experience some great effect of surprise.

As the “sultan of instruments” and its rhythmic counterpart, the oud and percussion are an emblematic pair that has been bridging melodic improvisation with structured rhythmic cycles for over a millennium. Together, Tristan Driessens and Levent Yıldırım succeed in paying tribute to this essential backbone of Middle Eastern music. A Tribute to the Masters is an exuberant album which has a both classical and popular feel and which I believe might easily become a standout reference in its kind. (A. Doğan, Izmir, 29th of October 2025. Booklet article excerpt.)