Written by This upcoming Jazz Fusion album from Cypriot guitarist and composer Okan Ersan is 42 minutes of an uncharted perspective of the Universe. Asking the question “why are we here?”. Ersan’s artistic approach links his view that we need answers for the reason of our existence and we may gain greater insight from many of the stories written down on stone tablets in the cuneiform language of the ancient Sumerians. Amongst them, they recount as fact the existence of a futuristic race of beings called the Anunnaki who’s home planet is named Nibiru. The release date is exactly 42 years after planet Earth received the Wow Signal, read on…
On first glance, this album may seem way out for many. I’m not so sure, and to add some scientific context – NASA’s Kepler space telescope observatory on its nine-year mission, pointing towards our Milky Way discovered 2,662 exoplanets.
Okan Ersan has a reputation for being a powerful guitarist, and an imaginative composer. Using music as his chosen medium of expression, Ersan interprets their wisdom and presents it in an accessible format. Ersan aim is to challenge our comfort zones by challenging everything we believe to be true of our lives. The first track is based around the Wow Signal official called “6EQUJ5” was a narrow-band short-wave signal received by the Ohio state university’s big ear telescope on August 15, 1977. The entire sequence of received sound lasted incredibly 72 seconds and is believed to have originated from the constellation Sagittarius. Many in the science community believe it to be the first true alien transmission from space. Ersan cleverly uses Morse code in translating a reference to the unknown signal “6EQUJ5″, blending with open harmonies and strong tonality.
The second track – “As Far Away As possible” offers a musical rendition of light and how science now calculates the speed giving us the term Light Years as a measurement of distance. The third track titled – “Deep Field” is particularly interesting, named after The Hubble Deep Field (HDF) image of a small region of the Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) constellation. The visual image alone is awe-inspiring, and Okans musical interpretation is eclectic yet with a central core reminiscent of sci-fi TV shows past and present!
“Gravitational Waves” has a much more Jazz-Rock quality right from the start. Up-tempo, very insistent, with lots of synth tricks all wrapped up to express the sound that gravity as a natural force might make, perhaps as it falls to Earth! The fourth track – “Transcending” immediately after the previous track was a massive pendulum swing, and I do question its placement in the overall order of the album. Having said that, it is an enjoyable, pleasant-sounding portrayal of the notion that we energetically continue in some way within the vastness of the universe after physical death!
The title track of this album – “Nibiru”, is a beautiful collective of expression and I commend all the artist for their input and is my favourite pick. (NB: Nibiru is a term in the extinct Akkadian East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia from the 30th century BC., translating to “crossing” or “point of transition”.)
The final track “Space Jungle” has fascinating elements including the hint of haywire embedded communications, I guess it depends on whether you speak the Anunnaki dialectic or not! The Anunnaki must find a precious metal which we call gold. It is necessary to save their planet from extinction. Discovering gold on the Earth the Anunnaki need help. Hence our primitive ancestors are genetically altered to create a labour force of gold miners! Much of this story comes via Zecharia Sitchin. He authored books proposing an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributed the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the Anunnaki.
As I said earlier, the album name and some of its subjects may at first glance seem fanciful to some? I for one appreciate that Okan Ersan asked the challenging question – “why are we here?” On his journey of a 42 minute uncharted perspective of the universe, and with the full musical expression, Okan Ersan has attempted answering that question, and much more through this self-released album…now that’s a WOW Signal!
Artiste website and purchase links: Okan Ersan
All tracks composed by Okan Ersan
Okan Ersan – Guitar, Rhodes & Synths
Serkan Ozyilmaz – Piano, Rhodes & Synths
Eylem Pelit – Bass
Volkan Oktem – Drums
Track Listings & Running Time
Chapter I – 6EQUJ5 (WOW SIGNAL)
Chapter II – AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE
Chapter III – DEEP FIELD
Chapter IV – GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
Chapter V – TRANSCENDING
Chapter VI – NIBIRU
Chapter VII – SPACE JUNGLE – ANUNNAKI
Total Duration: 41:05
Photo credits: Okan Ersan, Robert Williams (NASA, ESA, STScI) – and (c) info: all rights go to original recording artist/owner/photographer(s).
YT Video: Okan Ersan
CD Review: Nigel J.
Last modified: August 5, 2019
