Culture

30 essays trace a problem that affects society as a whole

Everyday Anti-Semitism in Turkey

What is the origin of anti-Semitic ideologies in politics, media and society in Turkey? And what impact does this have on today's politics? A new book provides answers.
By Gerrit Wustmann
New Choukri translation

The absurdist frame

In Mohamed Choukri's varied and experimental collection "Tales of Tangier" the hyperreal meets the bizarre. The off-kilter stories put forward by the late author seem to be set spinning on their edges, so fast and wild they might just fly off the page
By Marcia Lynx Qualey
The animals of Istanbul – a literary homage

A dog barks, a seagull mews

Istanbul's kings and queens are its seagulls, the cats and dogs in its alleyways, the pigeons on Taksim Square. The city's animals are also an essential component of its literature. A new anthology of short stories by Turkish-language authors offers up a narrative tribute to the city's non-human inhabitants
By Gerrit Wustmann
Nassir Djafari's "Der Großcousin"

On the run

A man who has lost touch with his Iranian roots meets a distant relative fleeing to Germany at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015. "Der Großcousin", Nassir Djafari's third novel, makes for a thrilling and topical read
By Gerrit Wustmann
The universal language of music

Music dossier: Tuning in to the unfamiliar

An independent, modern music scene has long since developed in the Islamic world and Europe. Breaking with convention, it is a far cry from belly dance and folklore cliches. In this dossier, we present some of its leading protagonists, genres and events
Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan

Recording Rohingyas' raw emotion

Brennan's "Once We Had A Home" is a searing document of the reality faced by Rohingya refugees squeezed into the massive Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border
By Richard Marcus
Kuzey Topuz and "Der Freund"

The human as board game

In her debut novel, "Der Freund" (The Friend), Kuzey Topuz has created a complex weave of fragments and perspectives. The book is all about power and influence in interpersonal relations and at a societal level. It's a masterstroke
By Gerrit Wustmann
French-Moroccan band Bab L'Bluz

Morocco's electrifying abundance

Swaken is the title of the second album from French-Moroccan quartet Bab L'Bluz. The band based around singer Yousra Mansour delves even further into the facets of the music found between the Atlantic coast and the Sahara
By Stefan Franzen
Reports from Turkish women's prisons

A square of sky

In the 1970s and 80s, the author Asiye Müjgan Güvenli recorded the stories of women in Turkish prisons. Now the texts have been published in German and provide an insight into disturbing patriarchal conditions in Turkey at the time.
By Gerrit Wustmann
Kurdish singer Hani Mojtahedi

Myths re-imagined

Kurdish singer Hani Mojtahedi and German electro legend Andi Toma of Mouse On Mars have collaborated on an album that also pays homage to Mojtahedi’s grandfather, a Sufi master
By Stefan Franzen
Aziza Brahim's "Mawja"

The voice of Western Sahara

Aziza Brahim's childhood as a Sahrawi refugee in Algeria naturally shaped her music, but as her latest album, "Mawja" shows, while she has not forgotten where she comes from, she has long since tuned her ears to a world beyond the camp perimeters
By Richard Marcus
Najat Abed Alsamad's "Kein Wasser stillt ihren Durst"

Searching for life

Najat Abed Alsamad's award-winning novel, "La Ma'a Yarwiha", has been published in German translation as "Kein Wasser stillt ihren Durst" (No water quenches her thirst). In it, she tells the story of a young Druze woman who roundly rejects the traditional rules imposed on her by her parents and relatives and begins a long fight for her freedom
By Volker Kaminski