Zumurrude
By TRI A TOLIA

After the big national and international success of the first album of the band Melike (“Macar”, Longdistance, Harmonia Mundi), three members of this band, Melike Tarhan, Osama Abdulrasol and Lode Vercampt enjoyed the music they were making together so much that they decided to form Tri a Tolia. Their first album “Zumurrude” (released in November 2008 with homerecords. be) stands for spell-binding music which is almost impossible to categorize because of its uniqueness.

With a Turkish voice, an Iraqi qanun (lap-harp) and a Belgian cello, the trio starts off on a journey to the Middle-East telling the story of princess Zumurrude (a character in the Arabian Nights) who, laying down on her divan, is heading for a magical night encountering love, loss, hope… These emotions are described with a very naked language.

​The songs are composed by Melike and Osama. Osama also arranged the music, together with one of Belgium’s finest cellists, Lode Vercampt, who has put his own stamp on this originally eastern music.

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