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Recording in Istanbul, Turkey with Murat Ertel

We are now in Istanbul, Turkey!  It’s a very cosmopolitan city, bridging eastern and western culture, and after recording in Venice, Italy, we went for the experience of a lifetime…visiting a place I have never been. Today we had an amazing recording session with a pro production team at Deneyevi Studio, and with world-renown Saz player, Murat Ertel, along with a gypsy percussion player, Umit Adakale. Um…awesome! What a super-cool mix of sound we are adding to our pop record!

Before Turkish music, there was no percussion, and the Turkish army band is one of the first army bands, it was really important in Turkish culture…they were always going out and invading places, army bands were at the center, and at the very center there was the Sultan. Once they surround the castle, when they invade, there was non-stop music until the castle was taken, so if the music stopped, the Turkish soldiers panicked… ‘What’s going on, the music stopped.’ And the music, it is very important… it might be very scary for someone because it’s big drums, loud drums, and horns always playing into the night and into the morning. ~Murat Ertel

We had an amazing time in the studio with the great crew from Deneyevi!

EMRE NISANCI – Engineer / Deneyavi Studio / Istanbul, Turkey
MURAT ERTEL – Elektrik Saz, Saz, Cura
UMIT ADAKALE – Darbuka, Bendir, Def
RONAN CHRIS MURPHY – Producer
KATHLEEN BLACKWELL – Artist, Songwriter
ARTHUR EDSTROM – Video Production