(Note: See press-reviews also on the 'Tiltan Music' page!) 

* FREEDOM AND UNIVERSAL HUMANITY (****)  

This CD from the music group Tiltan is a enlightening example of how global musical styles can blend together. The improvising Dutch violist Oene van Geel together with the Moldavian Bayan player Oleg Fateev, the Israeli composer and guitar player David Golek and the Argentinian clarinet player Natalio Sued interact their musical inspirations on Golek's compositions intimately. Listening to this organic, imaginative & warmblooded music full of fantasy makes one realize that naming the musicians' heritage is actually not so relevant. People, therefore musicians as well, happen to come from everywhere and nowhere. Qualifying them as 'crossing global boundaries' may sound a bit old fashioned these days. The music of Tiltan breathes utter freedom and universal humanity. A soothing answer to the upcoming xenophobia that is currently expanding in Europe.  

Saskia Tornqvist ('Het Parool', NL)  

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* 'Outstanding original compositions written by David Golek. Golek is a talented guitarist with a deep melodic sense, full of imagination and integrity' (Globes magazine).   

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* 'Golek is a guitarist who writes music without stylistic borders. He does not deal with free-jazz but rather the freedom to make jazz in a soulful and unrestricted way. Golek works with a versatile group.' (Maariv newspaper, Israel).  

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* ' A soloist with surprising flexibility. A band with their own character ' (NRC handelsblad, Holland).  

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* 'David Golek is a young guitarist who has developed a beautiful and mature way of jazz playing. The Album is not pretencious and reflects purity like the ideas of peace and love, which Golek talks about and practices himself. We had the opportunity a short while ago to listen to him at the 'Jamboree' in Barcelona, where we could see that it concerns a modest and dilligent musician . A real discovery. (Rated 4 stars out of five).'Guitarra Actual (Spain)  

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* 'Golek gathered European musicians from different countries to create a fine, delicate, dream-like and funky album, which it's concept is that things can be done differently. A personal yearning for peace which combines a Brazilian touch, sophisticated 'around the fire'-like songs, and intimate funk. Stiring and sophisticated.'  
The Third Ear magazine (Israel).  

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* "There is passionate musicianship and the atmosphere is there."  
"With this cd David Golek is profiled as a Jazz-guitarist with his own style, which will find the way to a lot of musical hearts."  
(Translated from 'Muziek Wereld' review, Holland)  

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* "Ingenious Compositions."  
(Translated from 'De Limburger', Holland) 

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* Concert Review at Jazz te Gast festival 2019 (by Richard Wagenaar):  

(Translation from Dutch)  

ZUIDHORN - Every festival needs its resting points. Performances where the devil is not followed as if life depends on it, but where you can relax for a moment from the bustle and where you can listen to quiet but beautiful music. On stage Number One, other than the name suggests, the best tucked away stage of Jazz te Gast on the far side of the festival, it was nevertheless busy for Tiltan's performance. On the grass in the sun, a large audience, often with their eyes closed, enjoyed the mix of folklore with Klezmer, Folk and Arabic rhythms with jazz. In calm compositions with beautiful instruments such as the clarinet of Daniel Mester and on the harmonium and melodion Mike Roelofs supplemented by fine violin playing by Bela Horvat and the guitar by David Golek. The latter also serves as a composer and speaker, who provides each song with a clear explanation, although that is still allowed in terms of content. It starts very appealing with "Wind Signs". The clarinet colors this calmed piece very nicely at first, after which the melodica takes over and finally tragically injects Horvat's violin into the piece and the Golek guitar lays the foundation for all this. Even more with an excellent development from a quiet start to an increasingly robust sound, "The Heart of Red Flower" with a nice dose of klezmer in it. A wonderful song almost a waltz. Musically it is very well put together. Every instrument has its own role and voice.  
Since they are compositions that often have many developments and meander beautifully through the emotions, there is only room for four songs in the time allotted by the festival. The last two are in line with each other in terms of subject. The calm calm flowing "Circular Days" is about the Deja Vu feeling and "Nostalgia to an Unknown World" is about longing for experiences that you have never experienced yourself. That last song in particular was very nice with the dark clarinet tones of Daniel Mester that contrasted with the treble of the melodica of Mike Roelofs, in which the role of the clarinet was taken over by Horvat and Golek with lamentable tones in the course of the piece used voice as an instrument. Tiltan was beautiful, relaxing and to dream away. A wonderful half hour on Number One.  

source:  

(http://thenextgig.nl/tiltan-is-bedaard-rustpunt-bij-jazz-te-gast/?fbclid=IwAR3nSrpJ4T052PksX1XTSNcUQmTa5QvQcgKYG5pk04W5CZv9_An7DKHoNgM)  

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 * Concert review (Germany, 2.4.19): Brilliant Sound-painting by Walter Peschl:  

(TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN)  

Brilliant Sound-painting (by Walter Peschl)  

Tiltan Quartet at ‘Passauer Saiten’ Festival  
World music played by Tiltan Quartet in Passau.  
Photo: Toni Scholz  
World Music in the truest sense of the word, that is what the Tiltan Quartet were celebrating on sunday evening at the ‘Passauer Saiten’ Festival in the gothic longhouse of the Niedernburg monastery. The internationally staffed ensemble featuring guitarist and composer David Golek, born in France and of polish-algerian descent, Dutchman Mike Roelofs on harmonium and melodion, Hungarian clarinettist Daniel Mester and Slovenian violonist Bela Horvat offered an outstanding example of how global traditions can be brought together and result in a new, authentic mix with influences from eastern European, jewish, arabic-oriental music as well as from France, South America and jazz, not fitting any set category.  
The four outstanding musicians rely not so much on spectacular solo-escapades, but score with brilliant 'sound-paintings' as well as dynamic moments of tension. Titles like “Wind Signs”, “Heart of the Red Flower”, “The Way Home”, or “Nostalgia” add to let the listeners use their imagination, picture landscapes passing by or nature, or to dwell on childhood memories.  
Even though the concert is set at a guitar festival, here the guitar is not taking centre stage, but features as an equal to the other instruments –and that is just right.  
On his electrically amplified guitar, with a warm sound and a lot of feeling, David Golek demonstrates impressively its versatility as an instrument for accompanying or soloing. A delight! With the exhilarating “Sleepwalker”, The Tiltan quartet lets the elated listeners out into the balmy spring evening. Walter Peschl (Passauer Neue Presse) 

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 * TILTAN in top 5 World-music best cd's of the Year in 'Het Parool'!!!  

 Tiltan's album 'A Road Less Traveled' is among the top best 5 cd's for the year 2014 in the category of 'World music' and among 20 best cd's of the year in newspaper 'HET PAROOL'!!!  

http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/23/MUZIEK/article/detail/3817637/2014/12/25/De-20-beste-albums-van-2014.dhtml  

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* Review on Jazzmozaïek magazine (Belgium, by Georges Tonla Briquet)  

A Road Less Traveled (KululushRecords) van het internationaal  
gezelschap Tiltan met uitvalsbasis Nederland is het verhaal van de  
persoonlijke diaspora meegemaakt door de Israëlische componist en  
gitarist David Golek. Het instrumentarium van de groep (met o.a. Oene  
Van Geel) bestaat uit cello, violen, bayan, klarinet en akoestische gitaar. De zeer filmische composi-ties leunen dicht aan bij het ECM werk van Anouar Brahem en Eleni Karaindrou. De parallellen met onze  
eigen globetrotter Quentin Dujardin zijn opvallend. De clichés van elk  
instrument worden in dergelijke context vakkundig ontweken. Hier-  
door lijkt het een tocht zonder gids of kompas en toch heb je als luis-  
teraar nooit het gevoel verloren te lopen in dit verstild decor.  

Georges Tonla Briquet (www.Jazzmozaïek.be)  

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* Review on JAZZTHING magazine (Germany, Nov. 2014) by Stefan Franzen  

 Klingendes Kleeblatt (See English translation below) by Stefan Franzen  

Tiltan: A Road Less Traveled (Kululush Records/www.tiltanmusic.com)  
Ganz großartige Texturen mit Klarinette, Bratsche, russischem Akkordeon und Gitarre schafft dieses niederländische Quartett um den Saitenmeister David Golek. Irgendwo an der Schnittstelle zwischen dem Neoklezmer des Krakauer Trios Kroke und dem Folkjazz eines Tin Hat Trio siedeln diese Klanglandschaften. Da steigen akustische Traumbilder empor, die sich aus jüdischem Melos, slawischer Schwermut, bluesigen Einsprengseln und der harmonischen Opulenz des Modern Jazz nähren. Wie eine delikat ausgearbeiteter Soundtrack zu einem hintergründigen Autorenfilm in Sepia. “Tiltan” bedeutet im Hebräischen übrigens vierblättriges Kleeblatt – von genauso rarem, “glücklichem” Zuschnitt ist diese Kammermusik.  

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:  

How a four-leaf clover sounds  

This Dutch quartet under the direction of the string master David Golek creates really great textures with clarinet, viola, Russian accordion and guitar. Its soundscapes reside somewhere on the edge between the Cracow Trio Kroke's Neoklezmer and Tin Hat Trio's folk jazz. Here emerge the dreamy images, that grow out of Jewish melodic lore, Slavic melancholy, bluesy sprinklings and harmonic opulence of modern jazz. As though it is a soundtrack to an underground film shot in sepia. By the way, "Tiltan" in Hebrew means a four-leaf clover, and this chamber music brings us luck and is rare to find in the same way.  

Additional source: http://greenbeltofsound.de/2014/10/klingendes-kleeblatt/  

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 * Tiltan on www.draaiomjeoren.com - Review by Koen Scherer (English translation. Original text in link below)  

Tiltan - 'A Road Less Traveled "( Kululush , 2014 )  

A four leaf clover, that is the meaning of the Hebrew word Tiltan . It's also the moving opening of this exquisite CD; Some babbling of Golek’s little son that suddenly says “Tiltan”. And the title of this project was born! “Wise words” is the name of this little opening piece. This also nicely describes David Golek, originally from Israel, a musician with integrity and a socially engaged world citizen.  

As soon as you hear the second track “Wind Sings”, you become aware of the quality of the musicians and the care & dedication that Golek and his fellow musicians have put into this project. Golek made a conscious choice by keeping the guitar lines as a basis in his compositions, allowing space for the other musicians. He wrote out much of the score. That’s a challenging choice that could affect the tension-curve that is so characteristic in improvisation. Specially for these musicians, whom each and every one of them is a fantastic improviser! But the tension-curve stays intact! The fellow musicians play with devotion and that, together with the diversity of the compositions, keeps the listener's interest all along. And there is enough space for solos!  

There is a variety from somewhat melancholic sound colors, as the title suggests on the track 'Melancholia' and 'Black Water Fountain', to more light-hearted sounds such as track '9 For the Price of 8', where the qualities of violinist Oene van Geel and Bayan player Oleg Fateev stand out with their beautiful solos and presence. In this way, Golek made sure that all musicians give the best of themselves. Clarinettist Natalio Sued plays a magnificent solo in Somnambule, a cheerful, swinging piece. Sued’s sound beautifully fits in with the melody lines of Van Geel’s violin and Fateev’s Bayan. The music ranges from folk, jazz, klezmer and chamber music to bluesy grooving, like in 'Lev Shel Perach Adom'  (Darbouka Groove).  Golek himself remains modest, as he lets the compositions speak for themselves, but he plays a virtuosic solo in track Machar Hatuna ( “tomorrow is the wedding”), which announces the last track 'Wedding Suite'. A beautiful melodic song with marvelous jazz elements.  

'A Road Less Traveled' is an outstanding album with varied compositions by Golek which speak for themselves through their distinct features and sounds, performed by excellent musicians. It ensures a balanced-whole that expresses dedicated and compassionate team work. Golek has achieved to include all ingredients of life in his compositions in an extraordinary musical way. An amazing achievement!  

Koen Scherer 24-9-14  

Link:  
http://draaiomjeoren.blogspot.be/2014/09/cd-tiltan-road-less-traveled-kululush.html  

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 * Tiltan by Jan Granlie (Norway, Salt Peanuts magazine)  

Tiltan is a band based in Amsterdam led by guitarist David Golek. We know him from a previous project with vocalist Simin Tander, the album "Folk Songs From Another Land." His guitar education has focused on classical and jazz. After having studied classical piano for some years he switched to guitar. In recent years he has traveled extensively around the world, one can easily hear both on the record with Simin Tander and his new cd with Tiltan.  

The other band members consists of Natalio Sued on clarinet, Oene Van Geel on viola, Oleg Fateev on bayan, while on one song Ben Mathot plays violin along Naomi Peters on viola and Nitzan Laster on cello.  
In addition Nathanel Golek is credited for "words of wisdom".  

This music is definitely different from the jazz music we got accustomed to hear coming from the Netherlands. Here we are deep in World-music, and perhaps a little east of the 'clog country'. Sometimes we get a little Stephane Grapelli feeling, through the beautiful viola playing from Oene Van Geel. It feels like there are  French influences as well in the music.  
Golek leads the group in an outstanding manner, he writes interesting compositions, and all the musicians join him to the finish line with sober and beautiful playing.  
For those who have a flair for the world-music of the French kind, then this is a must.  
I wouldn't mind hearing this band for example at the Django Festival in Oslo.  
This is music that stretches far into the gypsy category.  
Interesting, original and beautiful playing.  

Jan Granlie  

http://salt-peanuts.eu/record/tiltan/  

NORWEGIAN:  

Tiltan er et band med base I Amsterdam administrert av gitaristen David Golek. Vi kjenner han tidligere fra et prosjekt med vokalisten Simin Tander, på plata «Folksongs From Another Land». Hans gitarutdannelse har dreid seg om klassisk og jazz, og etter åp ha studert klassisk piano en periode gikk han over til gitar. De senere årene har han reist mye rundt om i verden, noe man lett kan høre, både på plata med Simin Tander og hans nye med Tiltan.  

Bandet består av Natalio Sued på klarinett, Oene Van Geel på viola, Oleg Fateev på bayan, mens Ben Mathot spiller violin på en låt sammen med Naomi Peters på viola og Nitzan Laster på cello. I tillegg er Nathanel Golek kreditert for «words of wisdom».  

Musikken befinner seg definitevt et stykke fra den jazzmusikken vi etter hvert er blitt vant til å høre fra Nederland. Her er vi langt inne i verdensmusikken, og gjerne litt østenfor «treskolandet». Av og til får vi litt Stephane Grapelli-følelse av ytterst vakkert violaspill fra Oene Van Geel. For det er mye franske følelser ute og går her også. Golek selv leder truppene på en fremragende måte, han skriver interessante komposisjoner, og alle musikerne følger han til målstreken med sobert og vakkert spill.  

For den som har sans for verdensmusikk av det franske slaget, så er dette et must. Jeg hadde ikke hatt noe imot å høre dette bandet på for eksempel Django-festivalen i Oslo (Hører du Miloud Guiderk og Jon Larsen?), for dette er musikk som strekker seg langt inne i sigøyneravdelingen. Interessant, originalt og flott spilt.  

Jan Granlie  

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* Freedom and universal humanity (4 stars ****)  

 'VRIJHEID EN UNIVERSELE MENSELIJKHEID' / Saskia Tornqvist - 4 steren ****  

(Het Parool, 5 Juni 2014)  

CD recensie 'TILTAN' - A ROAD LESS TRAVELED' (www.tiltanmusic.com)  

Deze debuut cd van de Amsterdamse formatie Tiltanis een lichtend voorbeeld van hoe muziekjes van de wereldbol kunnen worden gemengd. Improviserend alt-violist Oene Van Geel, de Moldavische Bayanspeler Oleg Fateev, de Israelische componerende gitarist David Golek en de klarinetist Natalio Sued (Argentinie) steken hier de koppen bij elkaar om in Goleks composities op prachtig intieme wijze hun muzikale gedachten met elkaar te delen.  
Luisterend naar deze organische, fantasierijke, en vooral warmbloedige muziek rijst het besef dat de bovenstaande opsomming van landen van herkomst eigenlijk flauwekul is.  
Mensen, dus ook muzikanten, komen nu eenmaal van overal en nergens, een kwalificatie als 'grensoverschrijdend' klinkt daarbij hopeloos achterhaald. De muziek van Tiltan ademt een en al vrijheid en universele menselijkheid. Een weldadig antwoord op de oprukkende xenofobie die Europa in haar greep krijgt.  

Saskia Tornqvist  

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:  

FREEDOM AND UNIVERSAL HUMANITY (4 stars ****)  

This debut CD from the music group Tiltan is a enlightening example of how global musical styles can blend together. The improvising Dutch violist Oene van Geel together with the Moldavian Bayan player Oleg Fateev, the Israeli composer and guitar player David Golek and the Argentinian clarinet player Natalio Sued interact their musical inspirations on Golek's compositions intimately. Listening to this organic, imaginative & warmblooded music full of fantasy makes one realize that naming the musicians' heritage is actually not so relevant. People, therefore musicians as well, happen to come from everywhere and nowhere. Qualifying them as 'crossing global boundaries' may sound a bit old fashioned these days. The music of Tiltan breathes utter freedom and universal humanity. A soothing answer to the upcoming xenophobia that is currently expanding in Europe.  

Saskia Tornqvist ('Het Parool' , June 2014)  

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* Review on 'Jazzism' by Ken Vos (NL) - (English Translation below)  

TILTAN - A Road Less Traveled  

Tiltan is een treffend voorbeld van een geheel grenzeloze vermenging van stijlen. Leider David Golek kiest voor een ingetogen benadering op de akoustische gitaar met enn grotere rol voor de anderen instrumenten: de Bayan van Oleg Fateev, de altciool van Oene Van Geel en de klarinet van Natalio Sued. Het resultaat is een grote verzameling korte stukken met elegante, folkachtige melodieen. Stijlistich is de muziek moeilijk te plaatsen, het zwaartepunt lijkt ergens in Oost- Europa te liggen met af en toe een verwijzing naar het Midden-Oosten. De thema's roepen asscociaties met het leven in een dorpsgemmenteschap op, je kan er haast de beelden bij bedenken. Het album is het best als een geheel te beluisteren.  

Ken Vos on 'Jazzism' magazine  

ENGLISH:  
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Tiltan is a striking example of a whole boundless mixture of styles. Leader David Golek choose a subdued approach to the acoustic guitar with a larger space for the other instruments: The Bayan of Oleg Fateev, the Viola of Oene Van Geel and the clarinet of Natalio Sued. The result is a wide collection of short pieces with elegant, folky melodies. Stylistically, the music is difficult to place, the emphasis seems to lie somewhere in Eastern Europe, with occasional reference to the Middle East. The themes evoke associations, with life in a village way of life, which you can almost imagine the images in there. The album is best to listen to as a whole.  

Ken Vos on 'Jazzism' magazine