He carried the soul of Bülent Ortaçgil’s songs much further with his solos, which complement Ortaçgil’s musical spirit. He plays with Pinhani in perfect harmony with the band’s folksy touch. In every album he has played on, he has added his own sound, and he is able to play many different styles, such as rock, jazz and folk -- revealing the diversity of his performance.“Ara Taksim” is Eldes’ fourth solo studio album, and it is like a funky encounter between Turkish classical music, with its unique sounds and rhythms, and Western music. It is called “Ara Taksim” -- which is a term used to describe the instrumental improvisation played between two pieces during a performance of classical Turkish music. He uses the makams (modalities) of Turkish music quite often and harmonizes them in a very aurally pleasant manner, particularly in the song “Agah.” “Agah” is basically a composition in the Segah makam, but he uses the classical Segah makam intro in a very tasteful manner. It thus makes perfect sense that he calls his pieces “taksims” -- improvisational pieces “in between” -- that is, in between genres, styles, modalities and musical traditions.
On the album, he is accompanied by İlkin Deniz on bass and Turgut Alp Bekoğlu on drums. Bekoğlu has a very simple, subtle and minimalist approach to playing Balkan and Turkish rhythms such as 9/8 and, thus, poses an alternative to the busy and very ornamented playing that drummers in Turkey usually employ when performing those very rhythms. Eldes also plays lavta and cümbüş on the album; with its fretted structure that allows the possibility of playing both microtones and Western scales, the lavta is an instrument that one has a chance to enjoy on an increasing number of albums produced nowadays. Now that this instrument has been rescued from oblivion, it is up to musicians to revive its popularity and return it to its rightful place in the recordings and performances of songs.
The album is dedicated to Tanju Duru, who died during a mountain expedition in October 2008 and in whose studio the album was recorded, with Duru himself playing on some of the songs.
“Aksak Funk,” the very first song on the album, is full of ideas for guitarists, and the drum playing is simply excellent. It is rhythmically really “aksak,” which is a well-known rhythm in Turkish classical music, and making it all funky while keeping to the limits of the beat gives the song a unique funk feeling as well as making it an interesting fusion of rhythmic patterns. “Haydaa,” another piece by Eldes, is even funkier, and many would kill to hear it live. The 7/8 song “Romans” offers a great opportunity to hear the rhythmic oneness of bass and drums. And the bass playing is just delicious on “Ara Taksim,” the song that gives its name to the album. “Epik Davul,” which unites a somewhat ’70s sound with Eldes’ rocky funky wah-wahs, and “Musakka,” which is like a Roma rock classic uniquely interpreted by Eldes, show the diversity of Eldes’ music at all levels.
It is a pleasure to hear in Eldes’ album that an instrumental album, especially a guitarist’s album, does not necessarily have to conform to a specific genre catering to a very small crowd of “other guitarists.” On the contrary, the album is to be understood as a funky set of songs that bring to the surface many inspirational ideas on how diversely a theme can play out musically -- in infinitely many ways -- if the guitarist is able to go beyond his own performance and add something new to it. That diverseness in expressing his sources of inspiration is basically what makes Eldes unique. (Akın Eldes, “Ara Taksim,” Piccatura Music, 2009)
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