Aise
Encyclopedia
Aisean instrumental dance tune common throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Sections of its melody are found as part of “Selanik”(“Thessalonikê”), a tune from Macedonia; in apiece by the Ottoman Armenian composer Tatyos Efendi; and in the song, “Love’s Like a Pin,”from Asia Minor
and Propontis (for a recording, see Songs and Tunes of Thrace, CUP CD 7-8, 1:3). What was probably the first recording has also been identified: a 78 made in Cairo in 1910 under the title, “Bulbul Al-Afrah” (“The Happy Nightingale”), with the Jewish musician Ibrahim Sahalun ’s Takht on violin.In Lesvos, the tune is called “Aisé” (a Turkish female name). It may have had lyrics at some point in the past and was most commonly performed in the west of the island. The tune is characteristic of the petachtos karsilamas, a term that refers to an entire category of dance performed to tunes with a very rapid time signature (although today,thanks to the choreographic intervention of the dance association, it is presented as a “chair dance”). This type of karsilamas is also called aïdinikos (see the section ondance), and the rhythm has nine beats (2+2+2+3).
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and Propontis (for a recording, see Songs and Tunes of Thrace, CUP CD 7-8, 1:3). What was probably the first recording has also been identified: a 78 made in Cairo in 1910 under the title, “Bulbul Al-Afrah” (“The Happy Nightingale”), with the Jewish musician Ibrahim Sahalun ’s Takht on violin.In Lesvos, the tune is called “Aisé” (a Turkish female name). It may have had lyrics at some point in the past and was most commonly performed in the west of the island. The tune is characteristic of the petachtos karsilamas, a term that refers to an entire category of dance performed to tunes with a very rapid time signature (although today,thanks to the choreographic intervention of the dance association, it is presented as a “chair dance”). This type of karsilamas is also called aïdinikos (see the section ondance), and the rhythm has nine beats (2+2+2+3).