There’s something about the Mediterranean that has been a fertile breeding ground for psychedelic music since the 1960s* when Erkin Koray electrified the Bağlama – also known as the saz – all the way up to BaBa Zula, Gaye Su Akyol and Altın Gün. These acts are all championed by one of my favourite record labels Glitterbeat Records, whose exceptional catalogue of releases now includes the self-titled album from Buzz’ Ayaz, a recently formed Cyprus band led by Antonis Antoniou where the members come from both sides of the Greek/Turkish divide in the capital city of Nicosia.
The first few bars of the opening track ‘Buzzi Ayaz’ brings muted promise as the tzouras is fed through a wah-wah and floated on a bed of swelling organ before the everything kicks off; the drums start pounding and the saz strikes up one of the many catchy riffs that populate this album with sky scraping highs that also include the simplicity of unison voices over hand claps driving the song forward as well as a speed-up at the end could have you spinning on the dancefloor until you’re so dizzy you fall over.
Those highs are mixed with moments of low growling menace that prowl like a big cat on tracks like ‘Efdji’, ‘Arkos’, ‘Ate Pale’ and the album closer ‘Alu’ which feels like a Mediterranean take on ‘The End’ by The Doors or the heavy darkness of Vanilla Fudge. The sonic range on this album is a glorious mix, with the gritty twang of the fuzzed-up saz and soaring organ at one end and then the rooted pulse of the drums stomping alongside the bass clarinet. This is an electric-organic harmony that the band have worked hard to create and singer Antoniou says it was hard to find the right musicians with similar aesthetic and political views,
“We experimented and jammed a lot, and began to find our direction. I had some compositions, and we started to connect the dots. Most importantly was balancing the instruments and producing a solid and interactive sonic world. It had to groove and be fresh and wild. Getting Will’s bass clarinet along with my electric tzouras (a kind of bouzouki), and then with Manos Stratis’s bass synth and organ; we had to work on all that, discovering our roles. Our drummer, Ulaş Öğüç, has a unique way of playing. We made the drums sound more like percussion, not so pop or straightforward. Everyone had input into the arrangements.”
The band name is a play on words, ’Buzzi ayazi’ is cold air coming through a crack in a window or door and ‘ayaz’ is Turkish but also used in Greek/Greek Cypriot (ayazi) meaning ‘cold wind.’ The word ‘buzz’ has three meanings: buzzi in Greek means ‘to let through’, in Turkish it means ‘ice’ and in English ‘a distorted sound’; the foundation of the band’s sound. The confluence of music and politics, urban and folk is inspiring and Antoniou says, “All four of us are activists, and this music is a way of giving something back to the island. It doesn’t have any checkpoints or barriers. It’s simply Cypriot music”
The music and the message of Buzz’ Ayaz are both uplifting and there is a trampoline park’s-worth of bounce from the syncopated rhythms and elastic riffs. The grit and gold from this album is an exciting, infectious, unifying, psych-tinged, wave-your-arms-in-the-air, delight.
The band are 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗼𝘂 – electric tzouras / vocals / electronics, 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀- bass synth / organ, 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝘁𝘁 – bass clarinet and 𝗨𝗹𝗮𝘀̧ 𝗢̈𝗴̆𝘂̈𝗰̧ – drums / triggers
Buzz’ Ayaz: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Glitterbeat Records: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | X | YouTube
* it’s worth checking out this article on Tigre Sounds
Review by Paul F Cook
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