breath

Mercan Dede believes that when you put digital, electronic sounds together with hand-made, human ones, you can create universal language, capable of uniting old and young, ancient and modern, East and West. This language of union finds its voice with Breath, the subtly powerful and startlingly seductive recording from the Turkish-born, Montreal-based "electrodervish." Guided by the Sufi philosophy of counterpoint--everything exists with its opposite--Mercan ornaments his electronic wizardry with ney (flute), kanoun (zither), clarinet and darbuka (hand drum). Mevlevi poetry, heart-rending solos, ascendant vocals and driving beats occur as naturally as our inhalations and exhalations. Peaking at #1 on World Music Charts Europe, Breath propels the sometimes-uneasy marriage of folkloric and modern music into a harmonious state of serene intensity.