Album Notes

Anatolia (Ozgen's Ensemble) reflects the changing work and musical outlook of Ihsan Özgen.

The varieties of musical genres which combine under the aegis of the ensemble, incorporating influences both eastern and western, have worked a powerful influence on its members.

Different musical genres, which came into existence and grew in Anatolia, are the basis of Anatolia Ensemble.

It was influenced by the fact that people who have migrated from Central Asia have combined their own pentatonic music with that from Iran, various Arabic countries, the Byzantine tradition, the Balkans, the Aegean and the Mediterranean, which has resulted in new genres.

How does Anatolia make use of this rich material? By introducing a new expression; by championing a modern polyphonic approach; and within its unique performance style, where a dynamic profundity and improvisational bravado are taken up as two important aims of the group.

New sounds are being formed as well as the working of rhythmic and melodic changes in the rearranging process of anonymous works or of works composed earlier.