Fire Dance
Fire Danceis the follow-up to Brian Keane and Omar Faruk Tekbilek's fruitful collaboration onSuleyman the Magnificent. But while that album hewed closer to traditional Turkish forms,Fire Danceextends Tekbilek's Turkish music heritage into a more wide-ranging landscape. Keane is more a partner than producer here, adding his own deft acoustic guitar playing to Tekbilek's arsenal of Middle Eastern instruments, which includes the ney, kaval, baglama, zurna, and percussion. By setting these instruments in rich synthesizer and percussion orchestrations, Keane creates a Middle Eastern fusion whether they are playing the Persian traditional song, "O lan Boyun," or the atmospheric expanses of Keane's "Desert Twilight." The latter piece begins with Keane's decidedly American-style acoustic guitar, full of open expanses before Tekbilek enters with his mournful ney flute. WhileSuleyman the Magnificentupdated and rearranged traditional Turkish music,Fire Danceposits a more modern and original fusion that embraces not only the sounds of greater North Africa, Persia, and the Middle East, but also a Western sensibility of mood and orchestration.--John Diliberto