Find out how 3 CDs of Ottoman Empire music from 1920s New York were compiled

A rarely looked at corner of New York music has been put in to focus by record store owner and music obsessive Ian Nagoski, who has compiled 3CDs for Tompkins Square of music by immigrants to the city from the Ottoman Empire. ‘To What Strange Place: The Music Of The Ottoman-American Diaspora, 1916-1929’ collects together a series of recordings made in the first quarter of the century by Greek, Turkish, Armenian and Syrian immigrants in New York who were responsible to for some of the city’s first folk music recordings. He talks you through how he first came across the music, tells some of the story behind those that made it, and highlights the painstaking labour of love it must have been putting this compilation together. It’s an interesting story, told with real feeling, by someone who has happily made it their business to really get to know these records, and the time and place they come from.

Tompkins Square released ‘To What Strange Place: Music of the Ottoman-American Diaspora 1916-1929’ on 28th June 2011