Dance Party: Burhan Öçal & The Trakya All Stars with "Opaz"

Today's random tune is by Burhan Öçal & The Trakya All Stars and is called Opaz. A Turkish percussionist, Öçal started his music career at a young age, learning percussion from his father and vocal music from his mother. At the age of 24 he moved to Switzerland to continue his musical studies. He works in a variety of styles, including Turkish classical, western classical, Ottoman court music and Turkish pop. Besides playing the darbuka, he has also picked up a variety of other instruments during his career, including divan-saz, tambour and oud. He has worked with groups as varied as the Kronos Quartet, jazz bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. He is also an actor, playing lead in several films and some television dramas. You can find Opaz on his 2006 album Trakya Dance Party, on the 2016 Burhan Öçal Box Set, and on the 2006 various artists compilation Homegrown İstanbul, Vol. 1. He is joined on the tune by Smadj, a Tunisian born, Parisian musician who takes inspiration from Asian, Brazilian, funk, soul and folk music.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.