BLUE AS THE TURQUOISE NIGHT | WNYC
The worlds of Persian classical, Western orchestral, South Asian soundtrack, and Balkan dance music all come crashing together in the upcoming album Blue As The Turquoise Night, in which conductor Eric Jacobsen, cellist Karen Ouzounian, and the Greater Bridgeport Symphony play with Iranian kamancheh (fiddle) master Kayhan Kalhor, Indian tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das, and the New York Gypsy All-Stars. To whet your appetite, the latter three have released a lovely animated video for the track “Balkan Bollywood.” In an act of almost comical optimism, this is their “radio edit.” (Really, have they heard American radio lately? Plus, anyone crazy enough to play this on the radio will be playing the full version.) But the track is a fun and catchy blend of the All-Stars’ Balkan/Turkish grooves with some wistful Persian fiddling and, towards the end, a lush orchestral platform for composer Ismail Lumanovski’s swirling clarinet.