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Kardeş Türküler – Along the Road of Hope!
September, the month of the International Day of Peace, sees the release of Kardeş Türküler’s new album, Yol [Road]. The album invites listeners on a musical journey of many voices and many cultures and is a call for everyone—those who believe that we should live and let live, those who defend a life of equality and freedom, and those who take the side of justice and peace—to meet on the unifying road of music. A group that has always nurtured hope, Kardeş Türküler once again renew their hopes and pay tribute to the wealth of experience and rich stories of these lands, with songs in Turkish, Kurmanji, Armenian, Kirmanjki, Arabic, Romeika (Pontic Greek), Circassian and Bosnian.
Released by Kalan Music, Kardeş Türküler’s new album, Yol reflects the richness of the multicultural geographies of Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus and the Balkans, reminding us that new beginnings and reunions are as much a part of life’s journey as yearning, separation and loss.
Where words fail, music speaks
Kardeş Türküler open their new album with Beyaz Atlı, a song first recorded by Cem Karaca in 1974, as a nod to the generations of musicians before them who played an important role in their musical journey. In Halâlê we see the suffering of a lonely mountain shepherd turn to joy thanks to the hope offered by a windflower piercing the snow in the deepest winter. Although introduced to the world by French-based group Bratsch, Hanane is in fact an Armenian song from the area of Kars in Turkey, and suggests to the listener that songs, like people, can also be forced from their homeland. A pared-down arrangement of cello, bağlama and vocals, Bir İncecik Duman Tüter is a song in the zeybek style of the Aegean region, through which the group offer their mark of respect to the rich musical world of zeybek-zeybekiko.
Stories that transcend borders
In Ala Del’una & Evlerinde Lambaları Yanıyor, Kardeş Türküler offer a song in both Turkish and Arabic, pointing to the importance not of the arbitrary borders drawn by nation states, but of the flow and interaction of cultures. Similarly, Karanfil Deste Gider a song that has found its way to us after a journey stretching from Aleppo to Kilis—speaks in its own unique style of the shared emotions of humankind, irrespective of geography or borders. In Kayseri Ğogumwe hear the lament of Circassian women who watch as a train, its wagons filled with young men conscripted into the army, sets off on its journey to Kayseri. We also hear from the voices of women in Kalk Gidelim (Oğlan Adın İsmail), a song that has itself travelled long roads, and Mito Bekrijo, a melancholy serenade in the time-honoured sevdalinka form of the Balkans… The other songs that breathe life into the album are Eşrefoğlu Al Haberi, which sends the message that all the values you look for like truth and justice, are to be found here on earth; Aitents’ Eparapetanen, in the Pontic Greek language of Romeika, which tells a tale from ancient mythology; Sebahül Xeyr, a musical arrangement of a poem by 16thcentury Sufi poet Melayê Cizîrî; and Gulê, a love song from the snowy climes of Dersim.
Reflecting a desire to live together in peace and solidarity, the album aims to bring together in music, and through music, people from all walks of life.
KARDEŞ TÜRKÜLER
Kardeş Türküler is a renowned music project with a varying line-up that plays traditional songs in all the original spoken languages of Turkey. The band was founded in 1993 by a group of students in the Folklore Club of the Boğaziçi University in Istanbul with the goal of fraternizing and celebrating all the different ethnic cultures and different believes in Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Balkans. Their repertoire consists of songs in Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish, Circussian, Arabic, Macedonian, Roma and many more languages. The band performed at numerous world music festivals in Europe, including Amsterdam Roots, Stimmen in the German city of Lörrach and surrounding towns, the Oslo World Music Festival and Istanbul Ekspres in Gent, Holland Festival in Amsterdam. Very often, the band works with guest musicians, including Armenian avant-garde folk musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan, American Armenian oud player Ara Dinkjian, British Palestinian jazz singer Reem Kelani and pop singer Sezen Aksu or Candan Erçetin from Turkey. Kardeş Türküler also arranged the songs and performed on the album by Roj û Heyv the Kurdish poet and musician Şivan Perwer, who is controversial because of his fight for the rights of the Kurdish people. The band made music for several movies, including Vizontele by director Yılmaz Erdoğan, one of the most successful Turkish movies ever made, and Kingdom of Heaven by the director Ridley Scott. Kardeş Türküler was awarded with the prize for best film score at the Antalya Altın Portakal Film Festival, the most important film festival in Turkey. The band was featured in several international world music magazines, including the British magazine Folk Roots and the German magazine Folker!
The band has 6 albums and 2 soundtrack albums released by Kalan Music label. Kardes Turkuler released a new album named “Yol”-The Road” in September 2017 and will celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2018.
Short Notes on Kardeş Türküler (Songs of Fraternity)
Kardeş Türküler
√ is a music and dance project from Turkey that performs the folk songs and dances of Anatolia, Thrace and Mesopotamia in their original languages, and pays special attention their own cultural contexts.
√ is an Istanbul-based musical group, internationally known for their use of traditional Anatolian, Middle Eastern and Balkan instruments, drawing upon the rich, varied and conjoined cultural and musical traditions that are the band members’ respective birthrights: Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Roma, and Armenian.
√ pays special attention their own cultural contexts, the group expresses the hope of living together in fraternity in a region with many different cultures.
√ gave concerts in 10 different countries of Europe, in Australia, in USA, Iraq, Syria and Armenia more than 90 concerts.
√ reached more than 1.5 million audiences in its concerts.
√ performed more than 350 concerts and dance-music shows in Turkey and in abroad.
√ relaesed 6 music and 2 soundtrack albums. All of these albums are labeled by Kalan Music.
√ The last album “Yol” (The Road) is released on September 2017.
√ prepared musics for the film “Kingdom of Heaven” of Riddley Scott and Kardeş Türküler’s track was included to the soundtrack of the film.
√ performed every year big dance and music performances in Istanbul since 1999. Kardeş Türküler had significant featuring guests from all over the world as Sezen Aksu, Neşet Ertaş, Aynur, Bedia Akartürk, Ara Dinkjian, Djivan Gasparyan, Esma Redzepova, Reem Kelâni, Onnik Dinkjian, Arto Tunçboyacıyan, Şivan Perwer, Koçani Orkestar, Nihal Yalçın, Olgun Şimşek, Joe Geia, Candan Erçetin…
√ attended festivals throughout Turkey and Europe. , Holland Festival (opening concert with Candan Ercetin), Amsterdam Roots, Stimmen, Rudolstadt, Oslo World Music, Strassbourg Méditerranée Festival, Kemnade, Positive Vibrations, Festival der Kulturen Augsburg, Şimdi Now Berlin, Şimdi Now Stuttgart, Gent Istanbul Ekspres, Festival Les Escales are examples of these festivals.
√ has been recognized with international accolades, including the award for “Best Film Music” at the prestigious Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in 2001.
√ Released by Kalan Music in 2011, the latest album of Kardeş Türküler and Arto Tunçboyacıyan “Çocuk (H)aklı” has been nominated for the 54. Grammy Awards for the best World Music album.
√ Albums of Kardes Turkuler have been reviewed by significant music magazines like FRoots, Folker…
