The Harrycane Orchestra from the Bavarian city of Augsburg was formed by the drummer and composer Harry Alt and Turkish singer Tarkan Yesil. With their mixture of jazz, oriental rhythms and Arabic melodies the band presents now its second album.

The first album „Phosphorus“ was released in 2017 and received great critics by the German press which enabled the band touring through whole Germany. Again on „Dark Makam“ the intention of Harry Alt (Drums), Tarkan Yesil (Vocals, Percussion), David Kremer (Piano, Wurlitzer, Hammond), Kay Fischer (Saxophone, clarinet, flutes), Giuseppe Puzzo (Double bass) and Joe Aykut (Cümbüc, oud) was to fusion jazz, oriental rhythms and Arabic melodies. The title of the album refers to the denomination of the mode of a music piece in the Persian art music, while Makams are responsible for the mood and mode. Dark Makam therefore refers to the dark sounds and gloomy structures. Harrycanes music this way tries to offer an inside view into the spiritual life of our times, where a more and more complex world affects us and leads to different moods and resentments. Tolerance, freedom and diversity as fundamental principles in the ideology of the musicians with their different backgrounds and cultural identities can be felt in every tone of their music and get in conflict with todays intention to simplification, exclusion or isolation.

The 8 pieces of the album are based on epic song structures with well-defined strictly arranged parts and lots of space for improvisations. Above all you can hear the floating vocals from Tarkan Yesil who tells us stories from lost paradises and doing some soul-searching. Additionally the band invited for the first time the Leopold Mozart String Quartet, that enlarged the sound and possibilities of the band and created a more mature sound which contributes also to the band name’s extension Orchestra as it increases the sounding body of the project. By recording almost all tracks live with all musicians in the same room the recordings sound very lively and dynamic.

The dark keys are dominant in this new decade and “Dark Makam” might be the ideal soundtrack.

Harrycane Orchestra:
Tarkan Yesil: Vocals, percussion
Harry Alt: Drums & composition
David Kremer: Piano, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ
Kay Fischer: Saxophon, clarinet, flute
Giuseppe Puzzo: Double Bass
Joe Aykut: Cümbüc, Oud