Orient Express

Orient Express

Artist: Leigh Cline
Item number: SA001
Category: Pontic
Chant Type: Pontic
Language: Instrumental
Label: Scimitar Records
Period: Contemporary
Length: 45'19
Release date: 1993
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Price: $15.99 USD
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1. Orient Express

2. Asia Major

3. Zeybek

4. Black Sea Fantasy

5. Crosstalk

6. Yanna

7. Trabzon Revisited

8. Offset

9. The Sabres of Paradise


Orient Express is a synthesis of music: traditional and modern, acoustic and electric, East and West. The music is based on Pontic folk and pop music (including eastern polyrhythms and modes) from the Balkans, Turkey, The Caucasus, the Arabic Countries, Iran, India and Central Asia, layered with Western instruments and using Western studio techniques. Produced by Leigh Cline who describes this recording as ?Western technology meets the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires.? Limited liner notes.

By: Benjamin Williams

The experience may be a surprise to listeners unfamiliar with music from the Black Sea area, in general, and the Pontic region in particular. Add to that the contemporary electronic arrangements on some songs, and it may seem hard to connect the new with the old. But, be patient because it?s there. Many of the songs are based on traditional melodies and rhythms, using instruments unique to the area. Others contribute unique elements that set them apart. For instance, ?Asia Minor? features synthesizers and guitar along with clarinet and Turkish saz. ?Zeybek? is fashioned on the Greek derivation of the Turkish Eagle Dance from the Aegean Coast of Asia Minor. ?Black Sea Fantasy? features Michael Kaliontzidis, the foremost kementche (Black Sea fiddle) player in Greece. Among the most striking is ?Trabzon Revisited,? featuring solo guitar, as well as two of Greece's foremost Pontic Greek musicians - Michael Kaliontzidis on kementche and Polios Papagiannidis on tulum (double chanter bagpipe) - this piece incorporates two ancient dance forms as described by Xenophon in the 4th Century B.C.in his travels through the Black Sea area of present day Turkey. Also included is one of the melodies of the 1200-year-old Digenes Akritas, the epic poem of Byzantine border warriors, that is still sung today. The sound is disparate, but the experience is worth it!