BRIAN KEANE
Born 1953 in Philadelphia, USA. A versatile composer, producer, and musician, has produced over
three dozen records and scored well over 100 films and television shows. His credits span such critically acclaimed productions as The Great Depression, for Blackside Films (Eyes on the Prize) declared by TIME magazine as one of the top 10 TV series of 1993 and The Vernon Johns Story starring James Earl Jones for Laurel Entertainment.
In addition, Keane is credited with scoring an Emmy-winning Jane Goodall special for HBO, and National Geographic Explorer for TBS as well as General Motors Playwright's Theatre series for Nederlander Television on A&E, which has garnered four Ace Awards. When not working in television and film, Keane has produced numerous albums including Maricachi Cobre (11095-2) and Khenany (13078-2).
Keane is considered a guitarist's guitarist, and has toured the world, playing and recording with many of
the world's greatest musicians including Larry Coryell, Flamenco great Paco DeLucia, Bobby McFerrin, The Brubecks, and Spyro Gyra, among many others. A truly international musician, Keane has carved out a substantial career while remaining largely outside of the mainstream entertainment industry establishment.
OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK
His name is Omar Faruk Tekbilek, but you can call him Faruk. "Everyone does," says his longtime
producer and collaborator, Brian Keane. Faruk has an unusual story, one in which Keane's Connecticut studio figures prominently. Faruk's first international exposure was on Keane's 1988 album Süleyman the Magnificent (13023-2). A film was being made about the Ottoman emperor Süleyman to coincide with the opening of an exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brian Keane was hired to do the soundtrack.
"I knew I wanted to incorporate Turkish instruments and players," he recalls, "but the Met saddled me with a bunch of professors—all intellect and no emotion." Desperate to move the recording along, Keane called Arif Mardin, the legendary Turkish producer of the Bee Gees, Aretha Franklin, and so
many others, and asked if he knew any Turkish musicians. Mardin didn't. "But two or three days later, he called and said his cooks went to Fazil's, a belly dance club in Manhattan. So I went for five nights and suffered through really bad belly dance music. Then one night Faruk shows up, looking like he was right off the boat." (In fact, he had just driven down from Rochester, NY, over 330 miles away.) "You could tell immediately that he was different. His playing was so emotional; he really stood out."
Keane had already seen the opening of the film and knew what he wanted—the mystical sound of the Sufi flute, or ney, added to his own synthesizer. As far as he knew, this combination hadn't been done
before, but Keane invited Tekbilek to his studio to try it. "When Faruk started playing," he says, "the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was magic from the start." Their very first take became the opening of the movie and the recording. Faruk brought in some of his friends, and the soundtrack was soon finished.
Omar Faruk Tekbilek later moved to New York. He collaborated with guitarist Brian Keane on three albums, "Suleyman the Magnificent Sdtrk.", "Firedance" and "Beyond the Sky". Downbeat says of "Fire Dance", "Keane contributes acoustic guitar leads and an acute producer's sensitivity to the spirit of this music. You'll feel you're in a tent with dancing girls and a hookah."
Tekbilek has also worked with Michael Askill on "Fata Morgana" and has released a solo album of
Middle Eastern fusion called Whirling. One Truth followed in 1999. The rhythmic dance collection Dance Into "Eternity": "Selected Peices 1987-1998" was released a year later.
He is best known for his performances with the flute-like ney, but also plays the piccolo-like kaval, and the double-reed zurna. Among stringed instruments, he plays the oud and the bağlama.
BEYOND THE SKY 1992
Brought in with Armenian lute player Ara Dinkjian for the third Keane/Tekbilek album, "Beyond The Sky" (13047-2), the Armenian percussionist has become a fixture on Faruk's recent recordings.
And while Brian Keane has become one of the most sought-after producers in the recording industry, creating several gold records in the past decade, he has returned to work on each of Faruk's recordings. "There are some things you do for your career," he says, "and some that you do just for the music. Working with Faruk has been one of the most satisfying musical experiences of my life." Both Keane and Tekbilek helped with the selection of works that appear on this recording. It represents some of the finest flowerings of Faruk's Tree of Patience.
Reuniting the innovative duo of Brian Keane with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, "Beyond the Sky" comes across as an even more adventurous excursion than their two earlier recordings, "Suleyman the Magnificent" and "Fire Dance". The listener is transported to exotic regions of the Mediterranean, including Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa....Amidst the Middle Eastern harmonies, the listener catches whiffs of Moroccan and even Afro-Cuban or South American styles, in a unique marriage of musical cultures. This collaboration brings back the symbiotic duo of Brian Keane and Omar Faruk Tekbilek, along with three other remarkable musicians. Together, they navigate a timeless path of mystery, excitement and energy, dense with the imagery of an ancient landscape.
The exceptional interaction of the musicians produce a spontaneous emotion, on both the original pieces they wrote for this recording, and the traditional Middle Eastern melodies they adapted. There is a good deal of improvisation, based on modal and rhythmic cues, updating standard tunes perhaps a thousand years old. Amidst the Middle Eastern harmonies, the listener catches whiffs of Moroccan and even Afro–Cuban styles. Beyond the Sky weaves a Middle Eastern fusion of cultural influences.
THE ARTISTS
Together again are music producer, composer, synthesist, and virtuoso guitarist Brian Keane, and Middle Eastern master musician and multi–instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek. A man of vast expertise, Tekbilek started early, performing in his native Turkey by age twelve, and studied under some of the greatest Turkish musicians. He now lives in New York, not only playing a wide variety of instruments, but building many himself. Brian also began his professional career at age twelve. His virtuosity on the guitar has made him popular as a soloist, and he has shared the stage with many performers, such as Larry Coryell, Paco de Lucia, and others. With "Beyond the Sky", Keane and Tekbilek have created an even more adventurous follow–up to their two critically acclaimed recordings "Süleyman the Magnificent" and "Fire Dance".
They are joined on this recording by three outstanding musicians. Ara Dinkjian is one of the world's foremost performers on the oud, a guitar–like instrument. The son of a popular Armenian singer, Dinkjian began performing as a boy, and went on to earn a degree from Hartt School of Music in the United States.
Arto Tuncboyaciyan is a native Armenian percussionist who also began performing as a child. Joining the project in his debut recording is a bright new talent, Hassan Isikkut, a dazzling performer on the kanun, a Middle Eastern harp–like instrument.
Brian Keane & Omar Faruk Tekbilek – Beyond The Sky
Label: Celestial Harmonies – 13047-2
Format:
CD, Album, Reissue
Country: Germany
Released: 1992
Genre: Classical, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk, Classical, Fusion, Oriental, Ethnic
TRACKS
01. Beyond the Sky 4'40
02. Imaginary Traveler 6'08
03. Kolaymi 5'16
04. Bridge 5'36
05. Chargah Sirto 2'33
06. Your Love is My Cure 6'58
07. Selemet 6'08
08. Nighttime 6'03
09. Strange Little Corner 2'18
10. Siseler 3'49
11. Sweet Trouble 5'40
12. Al Fatiha 3'20
Total Time: 59'11
MP3 @ 320 Size: 139 MB
Flac Size: 317 MB
MYSTICAL GARDEN 1996
The cover illustration is "Autumn Landscape With Mountains And Trees" circa 1370, and attributed to kar-i mani. It is found today in the Topkapi Museum in Instanbul.
Omar Faruk Tekbilek – Mystical Garden
Label: Celestial Harmonies – 13092-2
Format: CD, Album
Country: Germany
Released: 1996
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Oriental, Ethnic
TRACKS
01. Other Side Of The River 8:53
02. Magic Of The Evening 6:47
03. Laz 3:55
04. Shashkin 6:48
05. Hasret 8:53
06. Egyptian Dance 5:06
07. Three Last Words 8:33
08. Mystical Garden 7:07
09. Hu Allah 9:59
Credits
Arranged By – Ara Dinkjian (tracks: 3), Brian Keane (tracks: 3), Omar Faruk Tekbilek (tracks: 4)
Composed By – Ara Dinkjian (tracks: 7), Arto Tuncboyaciyan (tracks: 1), Brian Keane (tracks: 2), Omar Faruk Tekbilek (tracks: 5, 6, 8, 9), Traditional (tracks: 3, 4)
Executive-Producer, Art Direction – Eckart Rahn
Flugelhorn – Dan Pickering (tracks: 1)
Frame Drum, Shaker, Bells, Bendir, Finger Cymbals [Zil], Triangle, Guiro, Davul, Performer [Water Bowl] – Arto Tuncboyaciyan
Guest [Natural Sounds Provided By] – Ira Spiegel
Guitar, Synthesizer, Arranged By [Arrangements], Bass, Percussion, Cymbal, Drums, Producer – Brian Keane
Kanun, Violin – Hassan Iṣikkut
Mastered By – Dan Hersch
Mixed By – Brian Keane
Mixed By [Assisted By] – Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Jeff Frez-Albrecht*, Omar Faruk Tekbilek
Ney, Kaval [Kavala], Zurna, Baglama, Drum [Jura], Oud, Goblet Drum [Darbuka], Bendir, Tambourine, Davul, Finger Cymbals, Synthesizer, Vocals – Omar Faruk Tekbilek
Oud, Cümbüş – Ara Dinkjian (tracks: 3, 5, 7)
Percussion – Arto Tuncboyaciyan (tracks: 2)
Vocals – Arto Tuncboyaciyan (tracks: 1, 3, 7)
MP3 @ 320 Size: 156 MB
Flac Size: 351 MB
Brian Keane & Omar Faruk Tekbilek: Fire Dance On Urban Aspirines HERE
Ara Dinkjian And Night Ark On Urban Aspirines HERE