All of Kalhor’s music crosses national and traditional boundaries in pursuit of transcendence and beauty, wherever it’s to be found. Kalhor’s partner on the disc The Wind is Erdal Erzincan, a Turkish baglama player. The disc’s twelve untitled tracks are all improvised collaborations between the two men … The results are a thrilling and beautiful example of duo improvisation in a thoroughly non-Western tradition.
Phil Freeman, Global Rhythm
Made up of twelve unnamed “Parts” that run into each other, The Wind is really one long improvisation that rises and falls, inhales and exhales as Kalhor and Erzincan become one musician with one mind.
Budd Kopman, AllaboutJazz
Les musiciens prennent prétexte de leurs traditions pour improviser une longue suite en douze parties, entre élans communicatifs et instants méditatifs. Soit la formule alchimique du jazz, dans son assertion la plus spirituelle.
Jacques Denis, Jazzman
Ghazal’s The Rain was a lush and rapturous affair, and the title of Kalhor’s new disc implies a thematic sequel, even though he has changed partners. His main instrument is the kamancheh, or spike fiddle, and on The Wind its warm and sinewy tones complement the steely timbre of Erdal Erzincan’s baglama, a type of Turkish lute. Though ostensibly 12 pieces based on Persian and Turkish modes, this is effectively one hour-long instrumental dialogue, with the players elaborating each other’s phrases. The pair’s finely nuanced rapport and sense of narrative make The Wind a compelling record.
Jon Lusk, The Times
Nach seinem persisch-indischen Projekt Ghazal hat der Kamancheh-Experte Kayhan Kalhor ein neues Feld aufgetan, in dem er seine musikalischen Experimente mit verwandten Kulturen fortsetzt. ... Die Berufung auf alte Traditionen ist allerdings alles andere als eine Zwangsjacke, denn erklärtermaßen und überaus spannend nachvollziehbar nutzt das Trio klassische Themen zu gemeinsamer Improvisation. Özdemirs behutsame Basslinien liefern dabei den anderen Instrumenten das Fundament für melodische Höhenflüge von ergreifender Schönheit und Eleganz.
Werner Griff, Jazzthing
After Iranian kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor and his group Ghazal’s Grammy-nominated album, The Rain, the elemental tip continues with what is a glorious, searching, mesmerising follow-up. … Here the Turkish baglama master Erdal Erzincan assists in demonstrating the sublime results that come with total musical empathy and infinite amounts of patience. This, then, is improvised music, which takes its cue from the folk and classical traditions of Persia and leaves the strict compositions of much of the Turkish tradition behind. The duo’s gorgeous, free-form arabesques explore a common musical language, undergo what is a veritable airborne voyage of discovery. We eagerly await Kalhor’s next instalment – The Sun?
Jane Cornwell, Jazzwise
Dank der Bass-Saz-Unterstützung von Ulas Özdemir haben Kahlor & Erzincan eine spirituelle wie aufregende Abenteuerroute eingeschlagen, die sich als authentisch urtümlich und mitreißend vielseitig entpuppt hat. The Wind heißt die zwölfteilige Suite, in der die Rhythmen bis ins Narkotische hinein pulsieren, arabeske Pirouetten gedreht und anatolische Schluchzer und Seufzer ausgekostet werden. Und dies mit einer verblüffenden Meisterschaft, die einem das scheinbar so Exotische vertraut vorkommen lässt und dennoch die nötige Distanz bewahrt.
Guido Fischer, Jazzthetik
In a series of 12 pieces, prosaically named Parts I-XII, Kalhor and Erzincan weave a sustained musical tapestry with the complementary textures of bowed kamancheh and plucked saz. … The two instruments toss around short repeated phrases, spin intricate textural webs and Kalhor suddenly bursts into a sparkling staccato or novel percussive techniques which come like a sudden burst of sunshine.
Simon Broughton, Songlines
Stark, melancholy and highly atmospheric, this is Eastern experimental music of a very high order.
Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph
It’s a uniquely challenging project: Iranian music emphasizes rigorous improvisation, using only the slightest compositional framework, while Turkish music is much more structured, with solo passages restricted to succinct bursts at designated moments. The mournful songs on The Wind are spontaneous elaborations on traditional material from both Iran and Turkey, and the interplay is astonishing. Kalhor sets long, beautifully vocal-like microtonal lines alongside Erzincan’s alternately terse and liquid single-note runs, and their patient give-and-take flows as naturally as water.
Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
Kayhan Kalhor is from Iran, an exponent of the kamancheh “spike fiddle” … Now he is looking towards Turkey, with this collaboration with Erdal Erzincan, a master of the baglama, or saz, the longnecked lute. The result is a set of instrumental compositions that flow into each other like one continuous work, with gently drifting passages in which the two instruments echo and improvise on different phrases, matched against more furious passages that sound like flurries of acoustic jazz with a Middle-Eastern edge. Backing the duo is an exponent of the bass baglama, providing a sturdy foundation for the more frantic musical excursions by the two main players. It’s a thoughtful, intriguing work.
Robin Denselow, The Guardian
This Zen-like approach yields a powerful, serene music that builds in waves of sinuous bowed melodies, which often sound like weeping, muscular plucked phrases of great rhythmic oomph, and hypnotic loops of perfect synchronicity. The duo’s unity of spirit comes from simply being open to one another and letting natural harmony lead the way. This music speaks to our fundamental human interconnectedness. We would be wise to listen up.
Sam Prestianni, Jazziz
