PEPPE FRANA CHRISTOS BARBAS
Such a Moon, the thief pauses to sing

FY 8258

885016825829
Felmay Records

 

Two thieves, Italian PEPPE FRANA (oud, lavta) and Greek CHRISTOS BARBAS (flute, ney) enchanted by the moon (the wonderful world of the modal music of Middle East and beyond) stop to sing their ecstasy the result is the CD Such a Moon, the thief pauses to sing, first album by the duo including ten original compositions and (taksim -opening improvisations - all in its makam, taken by the classical Ottoman tradition.

Ottoman classical music is a product of centuries of mutual contact between Persians, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Jewish, Turkish musicians as well as other populations from Anatolia and Asia Minor. So we can also assert that, like any other musical genre, it can only survive into the future in the same way that it reaches our ears: through continuous changes and variations, deviations and fluctuations, innovations and mutations. If it doesn’t, then instead of growing and spreading, it will shrink and die out.
“The music we composed for this record is based on a musical system called makam which has existed for at least five centuries in various forms in a very broad area of our world, spreading from the western end of the Maghreb right through the Middle East and into what is now western China”.
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CHRISTOS BARBAS Ney, (End-blown flute and PEPPE FRANA (Oud, Lavta) met in 2008 at the Labyrinth Musical Workshop’s seminars. They have spent time together and played many concerts, united by their love for Ottoman classical music and the makam. Thanks to masters and teachers like Ross Daly, Omer Erdogdular, Ahmet Erdogdular, Yurdal Tokcan they were able to master the great world of Ottoman makam. With Such a Moon, the thief pauses to sing, their first recording as a duo, PEPPE FRANA e CHRISTOS BARBAS, as two thieves enchanted by the moon, stop in wonder and ecstasy to sing. Thanks to their musical skills an spiritual approach, they are able to create a music that put the listeners in a deep connection with the Eastern traditions not always so immediate and familiar.


PEPPE FRANA was born in Salerno in 1986, from an early age he got hooked by the English Rock and Blues, starting the studies of electric guitar. In his twenties Peppe discovers the Asian modal music thru Ross Daly’s music, and begins to study the Turkish oud, and other stringed instruments (tanbur, rebab). He travels frequently to Greece an Turkey, studying with: Yurdal Tokcan, Omer Erdogdular, Murat Aydemir, Daud Khan Sadozai and Ross Daly. He collaborates regularly with several artists for concerts or special projects in the in the Oriental and ancient music repertoire such as Ensemble Micrologues, Ensemble Calixtinus, Ensemble Exaquier, La Contraclau, Cantsiléna, Ensemble Bahar, Mosè Chiavoni, Radiodervish, more recently with pop artists like Vinicio Capossela.

CHRISTOS BARBAS, (composer, performer and teacher) began his musical studies at an early age: ney with O. Erdogdular and M.Skoulios, kaval with N. Nedyalkov, flute with K.Papazoglou and B.Bohm, western musical theory with N. Solomonidis and V.Kitsos, piano, cello and Byzantine music with P.Neohoritis, bansuri and Hindustan music with S. Sunders and N.Magriel, shaukhachi with K.Day, mbir with L.Wengara Magaya. He obtains a degree in musicology from the Aristotelian Academy of Art at the University of Thessaloniki and a diploma in ethnomusicology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He has been an ordinary professor of ney at the University of Macedonia (Department of Music Science & Art) in Thessaloniki.