The Mehmet Polat Trio was our guest in Acoustic Roots on Friday
18 September 2015. This
trio is both a spiritual and musically adventurous meeting between
three master musicians and their
magical instruments: the ney, kora and ud.
This
newsletter has unfortunately been published too late for you to be able
to
listen to the broadcast live, but you can always listen to the
programme on demand
by going to the programme schedule on our website
and clicking on the link in the programme guide.
The
roots of the trio are in the Ottoman, Anatolian, Balkan and
West-African music traditions and the trio is able to adapt these
traditions to enhance the original compositions by Mehmet Polat
and to create daring improvisations and grooves.
And they do this while retaining the warmth and intimacy of a chamber concert.
Their first CD Next Spring appeared last year on the Belgian Homerecords
label.
The album was well received by the international music press and
the trio has
been playing a lot of concerts as a result.
 Acoustic Roots is therefore very pleased that they were able to
find time to perform for us.
The trio are:
- Mehmet Polat (Turkey),
Ud
- Zoumana Diarra (Mali), Kora
- Sinan Arat (Turkey),
Ney
Mehmet Polat who comes from Turkey is an accomplished ud
player, composer, ensemble leader and soloist and has already made
many international tours. He combines different musical styles.
Although he appreciates the classical sound of the ud, he is
also prepared to innovate. For example, he has added two extra
bass strings to his instrument in order to change the sound that it
produces.
Zoumana Diarra was born in Mali and has been
making music since he was four
years old. He was a guitarist in the
legendary Railband du Bamako, and has also
played with Super Biton
de Segou, Super Djattta Band (with Zani Diabate), Super
Rail Band,
Alpha Blondy and Salif Keita. He has extended the possibilities of
the
kora by increasing the number of strings and now plays an instrument with 44
strings. He also plays the ngoni and balafon in addition to the kora and guitar.
Sinan Arat is also from Turkey but now lives the
the Netherlands. He studied at
the Ege Universiteit in Turkey.
His primary instrument is the ney. The ney is a type
of flute that plays an important role in meditative Tasavvuf, Persian, Turkish and
Arabic music.
Broadcast: 18 September 2015, 21.00-22.00 CET
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