MIRCAN KAIA

 

R E V I E W S

​

"Mircan Kaya is freed by her day job as an engineer to pursue her music with a singular vision. Her voice ranges from ethereal to gutsy, through pain and joy, always true to some deep and wise river of sound that flows through her to our ears. INSULA may be the deepest yet”

- Atesh Sonneborn

 Smithsonian Instutition, USA

 

“ It’s not often that you find trained earthquake engineers delivering songs capable of causing tremors all on their own, but Mircan Kaya’s Kül & Ashes has a seismic presence that pulverizes lesser singers.”

​-New Internationalist ,UK

 

 

“​Mircan is never a mere interpreter of music written by others, but does ignite her own power in every single note.

She is not the first musician showing that tradition and modernity can coexist, yet few do it her way. Her music reminds us that cultural diversity is a richness worth safeguarding ”

-​ Alessandro Michelucci

Documentation Centre on Threatened Peoples
Florence, Italy

 

 

".............​A delicious percussion works its way throughout Minor, especially on brass singed tracks like “Dut Agaci” or the quick paced “Tolige.” “Kez Ov Pesa” is truly stunning with the opening sound of wind and bells before brass and guitar lines take over before giving way to utterly ethereal vocals. Tracks like “Osmanim,” “Dunjaluje Golem Ti Si” and “Cinarlar In Agidi” dazzle with such a force of music and vocals that it will raise the hairs on your arms – the true test of remarkable music and performance. Listeners are also treated to the flirty, folksy feel of “Ay Senyora,” the deeply dreamy and jazzy “Karmatte Gola Gza” and the sumptuous vocals and piano lines found on the lullaby “Sis Nane” that closes the CD. Ms. Kaya and company set up an evocative otherworld that astonishes."

- T JNELSON

Wold Music Central

 

 

"Singer and composer Mircan has created a Pre-Raphaelite tapestry of a CD. It’s construction includes Turkish materials but the design is highly original and eclectic, owing less to tradition than to the work of innovative singer songwriters like Kate Bush and Tom Waits.

...

 

The recordings were made in Istanbul but the CD was mixed and edited to a high creative standard by Roger Mills in the UK: sala is very much a comlete artefact rather than an anthology of disparate songs. This is romantic, original and deeply-felt work full of fascinating juxtapositions. It will not be to everyone’s taste but those who do like it will love it."

-Chris Williams

FROOTS

 

"Turkish vocalist / songwriter Mircan Kaya apparently

grew up in a mountain village in theBlack Sea Region,

singing traditional songs at weddings and ceremonies

from an early age, before her later years at university

saw her singing and playing guitar in a number of

indie-rock bands. While Kaya’s two preceding albums,

2005’s ‘Kul’ and 2006’s ‘Sala’ saw her working primarily

with traditional Turkish music, this fourth artist album

on UCM sees her collaborating with Bristol-based

six-piece Limbo (whose ranks include trumpeter

Roger Mills and Portishead alumni Jim Barr) for ten tracks

that see her singing completely in English for the first time.

Opening track ‘Waif’ almost suggests an ambient / World Music-centred listen ahead, as Kaya’s reverb-heavy vocals soar out from a backdrop of sampled rain and thunder, the beatless and slightly ominous setting providing the perfect counterpoint to her eerie high notes, before the title track injects a sense of Balkan forlorn-ness, complete with weeping violins, piano keys and bass clarinets as Kaya’s folk-tinged lyrics detail the story of a lover passed – indeed, the whole atmosphere generated particularly recalls Dead Can Dance’s re-reading of ‘I Am Stretched On Your Grave.’​

From there, ‘Tonight I Long For Rest’ sees proceedings getting smokier and more jazz-centred, as muted trumpets and slow brushed snares trace a path beneath Kaya’s vaguely Grace Slick-esque delivery,"

​-Chris Downton August 25, 2008

Cyclic Defrost​​​