5 - In1989, a friend of mine, who is a guitarist, lent me a cassette tape of several guitar performances but he forgot to hand me the booklet. One of the songs on the tape was far different than the rest. It was composed in a genuine style and was performed by virtuosity. Every time I rewound the song, I could feel myself in front of Mediterranean Sea in a hot summer afternoon, at a point between well awaken to hear the every single note of the song and a lazy nap, hypnotized by the hot Mediterranean sun sparkles reflected by the sea. Several other times that I rewound the song I found myself feeling urged to put aside my oud and re-hold my guitar. It was well before internet days and I had extremely small chance to find out who was the composer and the player. Years rushed and one day I met my friend when he was back in Turkey after his Spain “adventure”. I asked him about the artist but he did not remember the name. I was alone again with the song, sparkles, urging myself for guitar for at least a decade. In 2001, I moved to a small town Gümüşlük. From the windows of the house, I could see a small bay named Koyunbaba which opens to Aegean Sea. On a reef, there was a grave of a Dervish named Koyunbaba after whom the bay was named or just the reverse. The one-grave-cemetery was a public place to visit, to lit a candle and pray. It was then, that internet era began already. I googled the dervish and the cemetery. There were three Koyunbaba items. First two were dervishes with the same name, Koyunbaba, in two distant towns. The third one was under a photo showing a young guitarist. It linked to a video in KZfaq. The play button gave me back my sparkles of twelve years! The composer was Carlo Domeniconi. I re-googled for his biography. He wrote the suite when he lived in Gümüşlük. I pedaled rushly to the town and asked about Domeniconi to the first man I met in the town. He was a fisherman. He replied “Of course I know him. He is our Carlo.”

The first time I heard Koyunbaba it was John Williams' version, which was very textbook and very straightforward. But then every time I hear someone else play it, it's like a completely new version.

It’s crazy, I feel like the KZfaq algorithm is inside my mind. Thank you so much for this video! I have adored Koyunbaba for twenty years, since I heard the John Williams recording and performed it as the finale to my college senior recital and other concert finales since. I just wrapped on a studio project and my next endeavor is a 6 song suite I’ve composed wholly inspired by Koyunbaba. The piece has been in my mind every day, and to hear this maestro’s thoughts (and the Joker-esque origin story) has been incredibly confirming. So thank you so very much! Greatest guitar piece of all time.

Koyunbaba is a great concert piece that is always well received by audiences in my experience as a player; it tells a story with a haunting melody that is accessible to any listener.

Amazing video!!Loved hearing Aniello talking about music and being so sincere.

Great video! Thank you for it.

Absolutely mesmerizing …

Where was this filmed? Amazing insight to the piece and its history from one of the greats.

There's a few versions of Carlo playing and teaching this and also recently over the past year, his student Julia Schuller also did a master class with him and shared it through his own channel on youtube. It's a mix of technique and interpretation theory and she plays to reflect his style (his hands are no longer as nimble as they once were). I agree that he is very much into interpretation and when he plays it, there's a lot of little pathways he deviates down. It's fun to add in ideas and themes. When I play it and I am all pratcied and familiar I can really start to see images in my head as well. And the story that unravels as I play is different every time too. It is the most phenomenal piece I have ever played. When I play it, I credit Carlo for his work and thank him as well.

I understand Mr. Desiderio's concerns about approaching a piece that gives a negative impression at first approach, and making attempts to taking the negativity out by making musical alterations to make it appealing to play it. But I have found that if I have to make those kinds of investments to make a piece worthwhile for me to play, I just let it go and find something else. I found a piece like that when I was looking for something new to play. What I did was different. I decided instead of making the negative piece part of my repertoire, I decided to write my own that appealed to me. I had the time to do it and I wrote "In the Rose Garden" as something that totally appealed to me. Life's too short to make someone else's work appealing for me to play when I can create my own (time permitting).

Legendary guitarist

I think I know a stronger story than Domeniconi's :) First, Koyunbaba is a Turkish word meaning "father of sheep". Koyunbaba is a well-known Sufi master lived in Ottoman Empire @15th century. He belongs to Kalenderiyye sect and Koyunbaba was pole of the all sects. That is, he was the greatest Islamic Sufi master in the world at that time. The name is coming from his sheepherding. One day he left the sheep and went into a cave for 40 days. People afraid of him because he also showed some miracles .Even Fatih Sultan Mehmed, conquerer of Istanbul, was visited him before wars to take his dua. His sepulchre is located near Ankara, capital of Turkiye. The other shrinks can be found Edirne, Denizli, Konya and Kalkandelen. In terms of the musical background it is quite obvious that Koyunbaba piece is a mix of Turkish Art, Turkish Sufi and Turkish Folk music. As is known, Domeniconi takes the significant inspiration from the Turkish music culture, which is an old and the most systematic music structure (53 notes and 560 modes) with respect to Western Classical Music. Therefore, Turkish listeners feel connected with the piece. Having said that, Domeniconi did a tremendous job by executing inspiration in his own style on a western classical guitar. Just amazing!

Koyunbaba is a legendary piece 🎶

Grande Aniello!

1- kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oq11htR-r5rYdIE.html

3 - (The composer) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b9CCZqeF0LLbkWw.html The piece ""Haydar Haydar" gets it's reference from "Semah", the invocation ritual of Turkish "Alevi" muslims.

2-kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oZeDq86UxLq8fYk.html

The best version for me, is the version of john W. ...

I love koyunbaba and i like Aniello Desiderio's interpretations of it, but tonebase prices are extortionate. Shame.

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