Instrumental and vocal music of worldly and spiritual love from the Balkans, the Middle East, and India.

11 MP3 Songs
WORLD: Middle East, WORLD: Eastern European



Details:
Music of Worldly and Spiritual Love from
the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central Asia

Ashek features vocal and instrumental music spanning several centuries and thousands of miles, united by a common theme: that of the longing for true love, whether physical or spiritual.

The album's title derives from the ashiklar, a unique group of traveling Turkish bards who have existed for centuries. Associated with the Alevi tradition, whose beliefs blend Islamic and shamanic practices, their name means those who are "in love" with God, reflecting the notion of the soul's longing for the Beloved, the spiritual lover who is the Divine.

Though raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tim lived for nearly seven years in England, where he completed a Ph.D. on the subject of the early crusades at the University of Leeds, and worked in the fields of early and world music. He plays more than 40 musical instruments from Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

He founded and directed Ensemble Florata, whose recordings for ASV/Gaudeamus received international critical acclaim. In addition, he worked with the noted British medieval ensemble Tintagel, and performed with them on BBC broadcasts, Belgian live radio, in Majorca, as well as a tour of the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. Tim has toured the UK and continental Europe extensively, and worked with traditional musicians in Marrakech and Istanbul.

He is currently an instrumentalist with Ya Elah, a women's Jewish vocal group directed by Bon Singer, former director of Kitka, performs with multi-instrumentalist Mark Deutsch, and collaborates with Jeremiah Soto, creator of the acclaimed Solace Middle Eastern dance recordings. He also directs his own early and world music ensemble, Caladrius.