Marching to His Different Drummer

Turkish percussionist Burhan Ocal is hot property because of his recent collaborations with a variety of Western musicians. But Ocal, 46, is wary about fame.

“Ethnic music is very popular, very ‘in,’ especially in Europe,” the percussionist said in a recent phone interview from San Francisco, where he was rehearsing with the Kronos Quartet before a joint appearance Sunday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

“To collaborate successfully, you all have to have the right inner feeling--the inner material--to make this kind of music.”

He found the requisite feelings in his collaboration with the Seamus Blake Quartet in a jazz performance at USC. And he’s found it again among the Kronos musicians--violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt and the quartet’s newest member, cellist Jennifer Culp.

“They are fantastic,” Ocal said. “Everyone has a respect for each other.”

Born in Kirklareli, near Istanbul, in 1953, Ocal grew up in a musical family and became immersed in the Gypsy culture around him.

“My father has a movie theater in that town, and in our cinema work many Gypsy people,” he said. “I love Gypsy music. Now I am working mainly only with Gypsy musicians.

He also became interested in Western music as a youth and studied in Europe. But his interest wasn’t at first reciprocated.

“Musicians there told me, ‘Your technique is fantastic. You play very well. But play your music first and then come to this European or American music.’

“I turned back to my roots. Now I am trying this.”

The first half of the concert, part of the six-week “Eclectic Orange Festival” sponsored by the Philharmonic Society, will be presented by Kronos and will consist of works composed expressly for this adventurous San Francisco-based quartet.

The second half will include a solo set by Ocal, followed by the premiere of a piece created by Ocal and Kronos for the festival.

It’s a rare taste of Turkish culture, which remains mostly a closed book to Westerners, Ocal said.

“People don’t know about our politics, our culture, our story--the Ottoman Empire,” he said.

For all his crossover work creating new pieces, Ocal does not regard himself as a composer.

“A composition is a really big work for orchestra,” he said. “I am not a composer. I never say I’m a composer. I didn’t study in a conservatory. . . . I am writing some simple lyrics and some simple songs.

Still, he and Kronos have captivated audiences on two previous U.S. tours.

“I think ordinary people understand me more than musicians do,” Ocal said. “Musicians, except for some, are not interested in new material. But I have to play both old and new music because we live in this modern time. We can’t ignore it. We have to show that we live in it.”

* Burhan Ocal and the Kronos Quartet. Sunday. 7 p.m. Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. $24-$28. (949) 854-4646.