MAFFY FALAY & BERNT ROSENGREN
SEVDA
CAPRICE RIKS LP 31 (MONO)
“This music is a material realization of one earth and one life.”

Trumpet virtuoso MAFFY FALAY had been discovered by Dizzy Gillespie during a U.S. State Department tour of Turkey in 1956. Free Jazz aficionados will possibly remember his work for Don Cherry (on his “Live in Ankara” LP, Sonet SNTF 669). The special magic of Maffy Falay’s unit SEVDA is best described in the notes on the back of this record:

»SEVDA is a unique fusion of Turkish music and Swedish jazz, which grooves naturally in exotic times, blending textures, rhythms and swinging improvisations into an exciting whole. Here is SEVDA live. It happened at a TV studio recording in the midst of many friends and at the time nobody had any idea that it would be issued as a record. It just happened; the right feeling was there already in the first phrase of Salih Baysal’s solo introduction. When the whole group began to play the good vibrations were still there in every note, no second takes. That’s the way it is.«

If you want to listen to an example of the sound go to YouTube and search for “Maffy Falay & Sevda, Makadonya”, in my opinion one of the most powerful tracks on this great LP. If you are interested in more details please study the extensive liner notes provided by Keith Knox (in three languages), who was involved in the production of the album:

»Maffy Falay, Okay Temiz, Gunnar Bergsten and Ove Gustavsson met in March 1971, for a gig at Club Artibus (Greta’s Place) in Gamla Stan, Stockholm and enjoyed it so much that they felt it would be nice to play together more often. They started rehearsing and out of their efforts SEVDA was formed as cooperative unit, which appeared at festivals and other engagements in Scandinavia. Towards the end of 1971 a poll was held in Orkester Journalen (Sweden’s jazz magazine) and Rikskonserter’s Tonfallet magazine, asking the readers to vote for the musical group they would most like to be recorded. SEVDA were the outright winners and this album is the result. Salih Baysal was brought from Turkey to join SEVDA because Maffy Falay felt the opportunity appropriate to bring a genuine Turkish folk musician into the group.
“Makam” and “soul” are to do with love in all its aspects. SEVDA turns us on to the earth and to each other, to all things that grow. In any language and from any part of the world, music is a spiritual celebration. It should be no surprise to find this compassionate understanding of each other’s music between the Swedish and the Turkish musicians. This music is a material realization of one earth and one life.
The Turkish musicians in SEVDA come from a tradition that is very alive. In the towns and villages of Turkey there are opportunities for folk musicians to play at weddings and festive gatherings of all kinds, where the audiences dance and clap the rhythms. The country is large and communications are still slow, certainly for the village people, with the result that different regions have their own traditions and their special instruments. Knowledge passes aurally from generation to generation and the music is mainly modal. The Turkish word “makam” has two related connotations, the first meaning something very close to “raga” and the second signifying “soul”. Afro-American improvised music has been through a number of changes since the turn of the century and, during the 1960’s, the innovations of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and others brought a modal style of improvisation into prominence, with an increasing use of natural modal pitches. It's easy enough to feel, but hard to define, what musicians mean when they speak of “soul”. Making music is a spiritual endeavour and perhaps that is its highest purpose. Gunnar Bergsten brings “soul” from his native Sweden, just as Salih Baysal brings “makam” from his Turkish homeland. There is no conflict at this point and these spiritual musicians can play together. Here is the basis of SEVDA (“sevda” in Turkish means “love”). Forget the word exotic, you just can’t remember having heard this music before, but you can dig it because it resonates in the soul. If this is jazz, it is a thousand years old in Turkey, and that is a feeling which comes across powerfully in the groovy sounds of SEVDA’s first album.
The flute solos in TAMZARAand KARADENIZ are by Bernt Rosengren, whose tenor is one of the highlights of this remarkable session. The cohesion and accuracy of the group is astonishing and when Salih Baysal adds his violin to the final ÇIFTE TELLE and KARSILAMA, SEVDA really flies in a joyful shout, which is both wild and controlled. The sound is unlike anything that has been known in jazz, to my knowledge. Texturally and rhythmically the group is electrifying. A second album, featuring Baysal, will be released shortly which will present SEVDA in a live recording from Jazzhus Montmartre, Copenhagen.
Before SEVDA arrived Turkish music was practically unknown in the west, but within a year of its formation, the group had achieved an almost mythical reputation. SEVDA is the natural evolution of Maffy Falay’s desire to give the world an opportunity of hearing the essence of Turkish music, the melodies, rhythms and above all the feeling. The open armed and warm-hearted welcome given by the Swedish jazz/pop musicians made it possible to bring the beautiful melodies and the swinging Rhythms into the improvised music scene. This album is also a consummation of Maffy’s desire to bring a really great Turkish musician tot he west. Here for the first time is Salih Baysal, the mythical folk musician who is described in all the ancient epics for his ability to fan the flames of love. Here for the first time on record, SEVDA presents fine Turkish music in a jazz setting.«

Among others, the fold-out cover provides the following pieces of information:

TURKISH FOLK MATERIAL
ALL TUNES COLLECTED AND ARRANGED BY MAFFY FALAY
Recording date: March 15th, 1972
Recording location: TV-2, Swedish Radio, Stockholm
Album production: Jan Bruér, Rita and Keith Knox
Personnel: MAFFY FALAY (trumpet, fluegelhorn, piano, Indian flute)
BERNT ROSENGREN (tenor sax, silver flute)
SALIH BAYSAL (violin)
GUNNAR BERGSTEN (baritone sax, Chinese flute)
OVE GUSTAVSSON (bass)
OKAY TEMIZ (drums, darbuka)
AKAY TEMIZ (darbuka)

Condition of the vinyl is NM, condition of the high-glossy fold-out cover is NM, too (with the only exception that the added, originally [possibly] glued page is loose; it wouldn’t be too difficult to mend this “damage”).