Gezgin—Mercan Dede




The Turkish born Montreal based world-beat musician / producer, subtly fuses the Eastern spiritual traditions of Sufi music with contemporary ambient sounds to create a unique mix of old and new, sacred and secular, East and West.

An adherent of Sufi spirituality, Dede brings his holistic understanding of sound, the rhythms of nature and of the universe to his interpretations of Sufi maqams, as well as to his original compositions. Dede is an accomplished musician, playing the ney (reed flute), bendir, frame drum, zarp and udu drum, and has produced and played on four solo recordings: Sufi Dreams (1997), Journey of a Dervish (1999)—on San Francisco’s world beat and jazz label Golden Horn Records—and then Seyahatname (2001) on his new label, Doublemoon Records, NAR (2002), and most recently Su (2004).
The artist collaborates with great local and international musicians in this album including Susheela Raman, Dhafer Youssef, Sheema Mukherjee (Transglobal Underground) and Hugh Marsh. Ceza, the young Turkish urban poet and rapper and the renowned Turkish folk vocalist Sabahat Akkiraz.

A profoundly spiritual individual, Dede found the traditional Sufi understanding of music as a means to uplift and harmonize the soul reflected in the rave/nightclub scenes of Europe and North America. Dede began spinning vinyl at 23 years old under the name Arkin Allen, also performing under the name Poundmaker, accompanied by hand-picked percussionists, vocalists and musicians. Dede's ability to interlace the polyrhythms of Eastern music with house and techno beats has enhanced his unique perspective on the inherently inspirational and uplifting potential of music and dancing.

Both as Arkin Allen and as Mercan Dede, he has performed at events as diverse as the Black & Blue 98 (a world-renowned Montreal circuit party which drew 15,000 people), a concert of improvisations on classical Turkish music at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa , Diversite Party in Montreal (which drew more than 30,000 people), Montreal Jazz Festivall Main event with Groove Alla Turca (180,000 people), and travelled throughout, between Kazakhistan, Bahreyn, Montreal to Paris and throughout over the past two years with different projects and names from world music festivals, to raves. As either DJ or Sufi musician, in either a secular or a sacred context, Mercan Dede is a master at touching souls and communicating the intrinsic harmony of the universe through his music.

The inspirational force behind the work of Mercan Dede is ultimately the same as that which has carried the message of Rumi through centuries and around the world. The word “dervish” means threshold; the ultimate aim for any Sufi is to meet and be met at the transforming point where one space becomes another.

Gezgin
Mercan Dede—Ney (Flute), Bendir, Vocal, Turntables, Samples, Electronic Sounds /
Memduh Akatay—Percussions / Hüseyin Ceylan—Percussion / Göksel Baktafy´r—Kanun /
Aykut Sütodlu—Clarinet, Trumpet / Tba—Dance