Lalezar Ensemble

The Lalezar Ensemble is a musical ensemble which performs Ottoman classical music, is based in Istanbul, and is, "spearheading," the revival of Ottoman music.^[1]

Female vocalist Selma Sagbas stands in for the male castrati that was traditional from the 16th-19th centuries while the kanun, a Turkish board zither, is also featured.^[2]

Releases

They released a four volume series on the Traditional Crossroads label:

• Music of the Sultans, Sufis & Seraglio, Vol. 1 - Sultan Composers

Consisting of songs and pieces composed by imperial sultans, including Murad IV, Selim III, and Mehmed VI, over five centuries.^[3]

• Music of the Sultans, Sufis & Seraglio, Vol. 2 - Music of the Dancing Boys

Consisting of songs sung originally sung by köçek dancers, cross-dressed young male entertainers.^[4]

• Music of the Sultans, Sufis & Seraglio, Vol. 3 - Minority Composers

Consisting of songs and pieces composed by Armenian, Greek, and Jewish composers, including relatively recent pieces.^[5]

• Music of the Sultans, Sufis & Seraglio, Vol. 4 - Ottoman Suite

Consisting of a suite, or fasil, constructed improvisatorily from different compositions all in the mode, or makam, Segâh, followed by a few examples of sarki.^[6]

In collaboration with Lalezar, Armenian-American musician Harold Hagopian spent three years to mix, annotate, and package the four volume series, causing the ensemble to increase their repertoire of pieces by Armenian composers.^[7]

Sources

Further reading

• (2001). The Wire, Issues 203-208, p. 82.