Thursday 4 November 2021

Attila Engin in Turkish Delight, Matao, by request, plus others with his group



















From discogs:

Turkish composer, percussionist and drummer. Born 1946, died in Paranaguá, Brazil 2 November 2019.

Performed and recorded in Istanbul, before moving to Copenhagen, Denmark in 1974 where he formed Matao and Atilla Engin Group.

Most of his material is with his self-titled group, discography here.  Without a doubt the best LP is the Matao one with its minimal ethnic fusion, mostly intelligent euro-style progressive fusion along the lines of Heavy Joker.  Everyone should already have this one, it's just brilliant, example, the track called Take Care of Your Baby:



That gorgeous electric guitar playing is from Svend Staal Larsen btw, who is this guy.  Apparently.

Following that album however there is way too much ethnic noodling for my taste, with the usual cliches of two-chord songs, minor chromatic arpeggiated riffs that seem so repetitive (think the old French ethnic prog band Asia Minor for point of reference), overlong improvisations.  The track called My Little Chinese Love, for ex., uses a childish voice singing a pentatonic scale--this was a musical cliche in the 19th century, for god's sakes. Luckily that track does develop a bit more with some grandiose fake strings right in the middle.

From the album Memories, Ole Thoger's Ballad:



Oh well, as before, I know there are many many people out there who really appreciate this music much more than I do, as they have so frequently commented to that effect, so this goes out to them.




14 comments:

  1. Matao, Memories, Nazar, and Tyrkis Chinese Love:

    https://www46.zippyshare.com/v/SUyY7x5t/file.html

    https://www.sendspace.com/file/i6t2ds

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much Julian, you are really nice .... in fact I thought afterwards that it probably wouldn't be your cup of tea (well, I don't even know if it will be mine, in fact) but I was curious, so thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  3. Matao Lossless:
    https://1fichier.com/?z9us23nxpc0q7q1w1oq3

    https://mega.nz/file/yiAEiTJL#s547hwnqc9NqP4PgEHMG_sO93vm3Sr8QnUYeO8tbPnk

    https://www67.zippyshare.com/v/phUCuzLt/file.html

    https://we.tl/t-xcIwQXbhVV

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very curious about this - thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The lossless version is password protected. What would be the pw?
    br
    Henning2804

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AFAIK no password but try 1234567890. i can reup LMK

      Delete
  6. thanks a lot! Hopefully, Marmaris Love will turn up as well

    Johann

    ReplyDelete
  7. thanks a lot! Hopefully, Marmaris Love will turn up as well.

    Reuab

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you! Shockingly great fusion considering it's from the 1980's. I already had the Matao-album, which is nice - but I much preferred Nazar. I don't understand how that one in particular can be decribes as ethnic noodling with the usual two-chord cliches. To me it's just great jazzfusion that takes inspiration from turkish/middle eastern themes and traditions. To my ears it adds an attractive sense of mystery - or an almost psychedelic flavour...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi
    great rare prog ! Thank you.

    Sosgotcha

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi,
    Matao Turkish delight lossless here :

    https://turbobit.net/download/free/y7x06xl5a6gr

    ReplyDelete