Turkish music
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Musica Sequenza Chamber Music Ensemble
Spanning times and cultures
Berlin-based international chamber music ensemble Musica Sequenza is known for its modern interpretation of baroque music. With his latest project, the opera "Kassia", composer and ensemble director Burak Ozdemir transcends temporal, cultural and geographical boundaries. By Ceyda Nurtsch
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Music in the Middle East
Attuned to a different classical
Many in the West equate Middle Eastern music with the folklore of "A Thousand and One Nights". Tayfun Guttstadt demonstrates just how erroneous this is
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Album review: Aynur Dogan’s "Hedur"
Finding solace in the sounds of home
For years, singer Aynur Dogan has preserved and expanded the possibilities of traditional Kurdish music, lending a voice to her people. She has just released her seventh studio album. By Marian Brehmer
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Album review: Kudsi Erguner's “La Melancolie Royale”
Ney music with a mission
“La Melancolie Royale” is an hour-long Sufi meditation on the reed flute by the great Turkish virtuoso Kudsi Erguner. Marian Brehmer on a Sufi musician with a mission
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16th Morgenland Festival Osnabruck
A virtual journey of sound across the Balkans
As a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, the Osnabruck Morgenland Festival took place via YouTube for the first time – transporting us to new cultural regions through music. Marian Brehmer attended several of the virtual concerts
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Death of Grup Yorum singer Helin Bolek
Against the death cult
Activist and musician Helin Bolek, member of the popular group Grup Yorum, died at the beginning of April after nearly nine months on hunger strike. She fell victim both to oppression at the hands of the Turkish state and a hostile cult of martyrdom present on the Turkish and Kurdish left, argues Tayfun Guttstadt
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Shaking the status quo in Turkey
#Susamam rappers: "Turkish society is on our side"
#Susamam has had more than 25 million clicks on YouTube. The musicians' message to their fellow citizens: "Don't remain silent!" The ruling AKP party in Turkey feels provoked; the Turkish press has even admonished Deutsche Welle
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"Karin" – an Armenian-Turkish music project
From deportations to duets
"Karin" is a musical dialogue between two virtuosos seeking to reconcile the souls of their home countries through their instruments. Marian Brehmer listened to the second album of Armenian duduk virtuoso Vardan Hovanissian and Turkish baglama master Emre Gultekin
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Kurdish Art Rock band Adir Jan
Rainbow's hope in hell
The music of Adir Jan, a Kurdish singer-songwriter and saz player born in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin successfully brings together the diverse worlds of queer poetry, Kurdish folk, Sufi mysticism and psychedelic art rock in a music whose hypnotic rhythms bring together many different communities. By David Siebert
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Album review: Ayca Miracʹ "Lazjazz"
The magic of the Laz
Drawing on her Laz and Turkish heritage, the German-born singer Ayca Mirac has just released her first album – "Lazjazz" – a fascinating blend of ancient melodies, spellbinding dance rhythms and intimate jazz. Review by Stefan Franzen
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Album review: Gaye Su Akyolʹs "Istikrarl Hayal Hakikattir"
Singing the revolution
Influenced by everything from California surf music of the 1960s to the songs of Anatolian singer Selda Bagcan and a hearty dose of 1990s grunge music, the thought behind Turkish singer-songwriter Gaye Su Akyolʹs latest album, "Istikrarl Hayal Hakikattir" (ʹconstant fantasy is realityʹ), is a little more ethereal. By Richard Marcus
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The Kurdish people
Nishtiman music project: Transcending what divides
They come from Iraq, Iran and Turkey; some live at home, others in exile – all, however, are Kurds. The musicians of the Nishtiman ensemble have a mission – to restore the cultural integrity of their homeland. By Stefan Franzen