Sevda Ensemble of Cazaclia Village – Kazayak Dört Köseli: Gagauz Songs from Moldova (Antonovka Records, 2025)
Antonovka Records released Kazayak Dört Köseli: Gagauz Songs From Moldova in 2025. The album features the charming Sevda Ensemble from the village of Cazaclia in the autonomous region of Gagauzia. The group presents traditional a cappella repertoire, accompanied by accordion, from a community of Gagauz people, a Turkic-speaking population of Orthodox Christian faith living mainly in southern Moldova and neighboring parts of Ukraine’s Odessa region.
Cazaclia, known in Gagauz as Kazayak (“Goose Foot”), provides the recording’s geographic and symbolic focus. The name refers to the junction of three small rivers that converge near the village, forming a pattern reminiscent of a goose’s foot.
Ensemble members: Pelageya Сioban (leader), Zinaida Uzun, Alöna Uzun, Matröna Mandajı, Mariya Taka, Valentina Barban, Donna Kalçu, Elena Mandajı, Mariya Dülger, Kiril Ormanjı (accordionist).
Recorded at the Cazaclia House of Culture on April 28, 2024.
- Kazayak dört köseli | Kazayak Four Corners
- Demyana | Demyana
- Çekırgä | The Grasshopper
- Yalpıda olannar | The Guys in the Yalpug Valley
- Sokaktan geçär kimindir kız | Whose Girl Is Walking Down the Street
- Ikyaz geler | Spring Is Coming
- Rekrut türküsü | The Recruiting Song
- Yanka ballada | The Ballad of Yan
- Mari Marinki | My Marinka
- Menevşä | Menevşä
- Başım aarêr | My Head Hurts
- Üşüdüm | I’m Frozen
- Turnalar | The Cranes
- Zından | The Prison
- Şu baa çotun altında | Under the Vine
- Guguş | The Pigeon
Author: Tyler Bennet
