Baklava

Known and loved throughout the Balkans and Europe as the soloist of the Macedonian ethno-acoustic group Baklava, Elena Hristova’s first album in Turkey is an archival work, not only musically but sociologically as well.

In “Baklava”, Hristova highlights the musical interaction of the various ethnic groups that live intermingled in the region. At the same time “Baklava” is a lively album, fun to listen to, and full of surprises as the songs switch from language to language.

Hristova defines her album as “an extremely varied but tight-knit musical and poetic journey through the continents and centuries.” It’s a journey that goes back to Elena’s roots.

The main theme of the album is Ladino, the language of the Sephardic Jews. Elena’s selection of pieces for her album bears witness to the Sephardim’s journey as they were forced to leave their homes and migrate to the East Mediterranean and the then-Ottoman lands of Algeria, Morocco and Greece.

Always attracted by the way a melody can turn into many songs in different languages, Elena succeeds in passing along the deep underlying meaning of this phenomenon to the listener. On the album you can hear Ladino and Macedonian versions of the song “Üsküdar’a Gider Iken” the Ladino version of the old song “Kadifeden Kesesi,” and a Hellenized version of an old Ladino song.

In the album was recorded in Macedonia, Elena is accompanied by Dejan Sibinovski form the old group Baklava on tef and percission.