Mikail Aslan Band with Özlem Tanner and Nilüfer Akbal
Three major artists interpret Turkish-Kurdish songs and music from Eastern-Anatolia. Nilüfer Akbal, Özlem Tanner and the Mikail Aslan Band have placed these colours and sounds from Turkey's mosaic on the world map. With their music they prove that all the world's musical tonalities can go side by side naturally.
Nilüfer Akbal
Nilüfer Akbal sings folk music in Turkey’s two Kurdish languages, Kurmanci and Zazaca (her mother tongue), and also in Turkish. Nilüfer Akbal was born in Mus-Varto in 1967 and grew up with the Kurdish-Alevi folk music of her region, which she learned to perform herself as a child. In 1987 she moved to Istanbul, where she continued her musical studies of singing, solfège and baglama at ASM, the music centre of baglama maestro and singer Arif Sag. Her first (Turkish) album Arzuhal Eyledim was released in 1988. She complemented her studies with dancing lessons at Timur Selçuk’s famous Institute of Modern Dance and classes by Begüm Erdem of the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet.
In that period her second album Ben Bir Kadinim was released. 1991 saw the release of two albums by the famous musician Hasret Gültekin, also of Alevi-Kurdish origin, who would later die in the Sivas arson attack. The albums contained the first released Kurdish songs by Akbal, ‘Newroz 1’ and ‘Newroz 2’ (about the Kurdish New Year), which were received enthusiastically. Gültekin was a powerful inspiration for her to start singing songs in her mother tongue again. In the same year she left for Germany and started studying with the voice trainer Paulo Gronau in Cologne. She was also admitted to the ‘Rheinische Musikschule’, at which she studied for two years. In that period she had her breakthrough with the successful and popular Kurdish-language album Miro. She subsequently became world-famous with many performances of the songs from Miro in various countries.
In 1998 Nilüfer Akbal collaborated with the French arranger Jean Michel Kanner for the experimental album Revingi.
The album Ray’e, which she made with Ayhan Evci in 2002, was designated ‘Best album of the week’ by the German national radio station SFB-Multi-kulti. In 2005 her new album Sewa was pronounced ‘Best album of the week’ by WDR radio and the song Ez Tazeme took second place in the WDR Top Ten for three weeks.
Besides her albums and concerts Nilüfer Akbal is also known for her contributions to film music, including the famous movie Yol by Yilmaz Güney. In Turkey Nilüfer Akbal is currently one of the most popular voices, especially among young people.
In her own words, Nilüfer Akbal interprets some of the colours and sounds of Turkey’s indescribably colourful and sound-rich mosaic of music.
Mikail Aslan
Mikail Aslan is one of the main interpreters of Kurdish music from Turkey. Mikail Aslan can be said to have been born and raised with the baglama. He performed his early compositions with bands such as Grup Munzur and Grup Tohum. In 2000 he and the German jazz musicians Michael Weil and Dieter Schmalzried founded the Mikail Aslan Ensemble. They joined him to introduce his music on the European stage. Since 2001 he has been studying classical guitar in the city of Mainz, selecting the saxophone as his secondary instrument. Mikail Aslan interlaces his work with the history, mythology and identity of his native region. On his albums he proves that “All the world’s tonalities can go side by side.”
Özlem Taner
Özlem Taner is part of the newest generation of folk musicians from Turkey. Her voice and baglama playing appear regularly in films and television shows. Her great breakthrough came with her first album with works by the old master troubadours such as Ashik Mahzuni Serif, Ashik Davut Sulari, Muhlis Akarsu, Neset Ertas and Ashik Ikrami represented her. Especially impressive are her interpretations of Turkmen tunes and songs from the regions of Antep and Barak, besides her sensitive treatment of Alevi music. The album showcases her mastership, both vocally and instrumentally. With the album Türkmen Kizi, released in England, she gained the qualification ‘most listened to’ in the charts of the international world music press.
