I had another ear-grabbing moment when some music by Cantemir was played on Classic FM. it just came straight out of the speakers and lassooed my ears!
Dimitrie Cantemir was born in 1673 in Silişten, Moldovia, now Romania and a real man of many parts; as well as being a musician and composer, he was a writer and philosopher, linguist and ethnographer! He became Prince of Moldova on the death of his father, however his country was part of the Ottoman Empire, and Dimitrie had spent many year in Istanbul as a young man. He could speak Turkish, as well as Latin, Arabic and Greek. His tenure of the throne only lasted three weeks before he was sent back to Constantinople. He did become Prince again, and this time he held his office for a year.
His family moved to Russia and he became involved in translating the Byzantine liturgy for the Orthodox church. he passed on his talents to his children, Maria who became the mistress of Tsar Peter of Russia, his son Antioh was a famous diplomat, and his youngest daughter Smaragda was a great beauty and married a Russian prince.
Dmitrie died in in 1723 but leaves a legacy of wonderful music, which I think we would call fusion…. Moldovian dances, Ottoman and European classical influences, dervish Serma (devotional music) and played on a variety of western and eastern instruments including tambur, the saz, the kemence,and the bendir (I don’t actually know what they are!)
To quote the sleeve notes from the CD “Cantemir’s compositions are typically cast in pesrev or saz semai form, consisting of several sections (hane) with a ritornello (mülâime or teslim) repeated after each…” so now you know!
Lois Elsden 
Ooh I was drawn in by the title and very jazzed by this entry! I love learning about new things that have been there all along especially in the Arts. Do we think “Cantemir” has some etymological relationship with “Cantor” or “Cantar” etc., the other words which mean “song?”
The tambur I know is a kind of drum but those others are a new fun mystery to me 🙂 I shall try to find my big book of historical instruments and track them down!
I hope it’s not still so soggy there Lois? Come over here we are dry and bright today 🙂 ♥
love!
xoxo
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I’ve just popped in some youtube vids, just so you can get an idea of his dreamy music! I wondered about cantar etc, I have no idea, but it’s a good name for a composer and musician isn’t it!
Luckily for us it’s dried up round here and we have had the most glorious sunny day, crispy and cold but bright and fresh! The floods are appalling further south and north though.
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I’m back! I realized I was flat wrong about the tanbour, having just got this great CD I can fix my mistake. It was a long necked lute, said to be like the viola de gamba in that it was most like the human voice. The little pictures in the CD look like a Sultan playing a guitar 😉 It’s a great record I’m so glad you posted on him! x 🙂
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Glad you like it!! Have you discovered my modern fave, Amir Beso – he is incredible on stringed instruments and has quite an amazing personal story!
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