Comments for Tekbilek, Omar Faruk, Dance Into Eternity: Selected Pieces 1987-1998

Turkish born and bred, Omar Faruk Tekbilek is a musician whose virtuosity is nurtured by grace and passion. Faruk can play just about any Middle Eastern instrument you can think of--the ney flute, the stringed baglama, the percussive dumbek--and he's a master of them all. But if not for producer Brian Keane, Faruk would be just another Middle Eastern musician playing for belly dancers, which he did for years with a group called the Sultans, who have one track on the disc. In 1988, Keane plucked Faruk from a Middle Eastern bar and made him the centerpiece of a soundtrack and album, Suleyman the Magnificent. Selections from that album and seven other CDs comprise Dance into Eternity. As Faruk and Keane's relationship became more closely interwoven, you can hear them creating a unique Middle Eastern fusion. Keane backed Faruk's searingly beautiful ney melodies with synthesizers and acoustic guitar, and added other Middle Eastern players such as Ara Dinkjian and Arto Tunboyaciyan from the group Night Ark. This wasn't belly dance music anymore, although tracks such as "Siseler," featuring Faruk on the whining zurna, would get any exotic dancer gyrating. Keane and Faruk worked in orchestral territory, with Faruk's gorgeous melodies curving around ballads such as "Koyaymi" or the trance meditations of "Whirling." Skillfully selected and annotated by John Schaefer, Dance into Eternity is a wonderful introduction to Omar Faruk Tekbilek. --John Diliberto