Úzgin Űver / Dirtmusic

This instalment of the Dupla W series features a 'duo' of two bands influenced by rock and folk music alike, and whose newest albums bear a strong influence from the Middle-East. Formed in Kecskemét in 1991, Úzgin Üver appeared as one of the earliest messengers of Hungarian world music. Their name, which means 'poor harvest', was derived from the excavation site of an ancient burial ground in Mongolia, a place to which the band still enjoys to return. But 'poor' does not characterise their... music in the least. To the contrary: they freely incorporate Eastern European, Balkan, Turkish, Persian and Armenian melodies alike, and are equally at home in the worlds of jazz, rock, electronic dance and folk music. Their most recent album Patak has appeared high in the ranking on European world music charts.
Dirtmusic was formed in 2007 by American Chris Eckman and Australian Hugo Race. While the band previously dealt in uprooted urban folk, they were so affected by desert blues at the legendary Festival au Désert in Mali that they later recorded several albums with Malian musicians. It was then that a radical Islamist takeover of northern Mali left the Western musicians in state of fear. Eckman also spent time in another 'danger zone', this time in Turkey, where he came into contact with the band Baba Zula and its founder Murat Ertel, with whom Dirtmusic collaborated on their 2018 album Bu Bur Ruya. Without any prior planning, they moved into Ertel's garage studio where - influenced by Istanbul's 'cold war' atmosphere - they conjured a stirring psychedelic album.