At the age of five she found herself in a room filled with music; in a room full of children with various instruments in their hands playing them merrily. Two years later, she started her piano studies at the conservatory and she fell for “chamber music” there.

In 1983, she founded her first group “Mozaik”. They released four albums until 1995. “Mozaik” combined rock, classical music and jazz; another element for their music was the native land itself. She also found an opportunity to play her music live in places where she played improvisations. She prepared a concert in which she sang “woman songs” with Sumru Agiryürüyen. As a studio musician, she took part in the albums of various groups and singers such as Bülent Ortaçgil, Yeni Türkü, Ezginin Günlügü, Mehmet Güreli and Bulutsuzluk Özlemi. In 1995, she started playing in different places with Bülent Somay, a composer and guitarist.
After having written soundtracks for several short films, she wrote the soundtrack of “Vapurlar” (1986) with Mehmet Güreli and of “Bekle Dedim Gölgeye” of Atif Yilmaz (1991) with Serdar Ateser. She also wrote the musical “Ordaa bir sehir var uzakta” (1994) with Ümit Kivanç and Bülent Ortaçgil. After writing music for various theatre plays, she received a commission to write the music of the theatre play “Sahte Kimlikler 5/Asrin Entrikasi” written by Kerem Kurdoglu for the “Kumpanya” Theatre (2000).

In 1999 she released the album “Çesitlemeler” with the “Piano Percussions Group”(Oguz Büyükberber/ Yahya Sai/ Saruhan Erim/ Timuçin Gürer/ Serdar Gönenci/ Cengiz Baysal) that she had founded in 1995. She has attended various national and international festivals:
1st Istanbul Music Festival/Turkey (1997)
6th International Istanbul Jazz Festival / Turkey (1999)
6th International Eskisehir Festival / Turkey (2000)
4th METU Jazz Days /Ankara/ Turkey (2000)
1st Afyonkarahisar Jazz festival (2001)
2002 Ankara Jazz Festival ( 2002)
North Sea Jazz Festival /Lahey/ Holland (2002)
Traumzeit Festival / Duisburg / Germany (2003)
Tablos Festival /Ruvo di Puglia/ Italy (2003)

In 1999, she played with Lawrence “Butch” Morris’ “Conducting-Improvisation Orchestra”. In 2002, she shared the stage with Donovan Mixon and Akin Eldes.

Currently, while continuing her piano performances with the Piano Percussion Group , she has been playing her new compositions, which she arranged especially for two brasses and a piano, in her trio with Yahya Dai and Oguz Büyükberber since March,2004.

Ayse Tütüncü prefers to stand somewhere in the middle in order to balance the tension between written music and improvisation and to reach both. Both in her “Piano Percussion” project, which she has been carrying out since 1995, and in her new Trio, she deals with compositions, adaptations, variations and collages which have free parts that would allow improvisation. On the other hand, teaching, too, is an important issue for her. Either the lesson were on piano or on “group music”, as has been in the “Academy Istanbul” for years, it wouldn’t make any difference. Always she is in a room filled with music.

Ayse Tütüncü Piano Percussion Ensemble

That extraordinary combination leads us to see very well-known compositions of composers such as Chick Korea, Shadowfaz, Carla Bley or Debussy in a different light. On the other hand, the arrangements, woven mischievously by the group around a tango from Secaattin Tanyerli or pieces by Egberto Gismonti and Jan Garberek, leave such deep traces on the original compositions that original themes can be picked with difficulty. Along with these variations and collages, their own music completes the repertoire in the same way.

Naturally, instruments such as a Ramadan drum and a bendir are involved too, and of course, the rhythmic and melodic diversity of the East that combine in Anatolia is clearly felt in the performance of the group. Music is heard as if it rose out of a pool of instruments in which several instruments from four continents sparkle within these arrangements the sounds of percussions are woven together in: kaxixi, maracas, triangle, cymbals, bongo, castanets, Mbira (harp), kuika, wooden spoon, rototom, bendir, Ramadan drum, acetates and tin plate….

A mourning like “Sick Siempre” or children songs, a Kurdish dance or Monteverdi’s opera or Rumba, rhythms of tango and samba ….. The group catches a unique sound from various sources. This sound, coming from the colourful arrangements created by the percussions with the piano carrying melody, harmony and vocals, is there open to improvisations, to call out sounds of different lands and to combine them all…

It is as if sometimes a percussive firework were thrown and immediately some space was created for the improvisations of the and then the music flowed to a spot where those six people play together in harmony. In short, it is music full of ideas that are listened to with joy.

Website: www.aysetutuncu.com

Sinem, pronounced “C”-nem, is an ancient Turkish word meaning “deep from within my heart.” As her name implies, Sinem writes and delivers her music in this very manner. Sinem’s love of music comes from an eclectic selection that include the likes of Bebel Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, and others that fuel the bossa nova fire and sensual latin rhythms into Sinem’s own music. As a German-born American with Turkish family roots, Sinem is already set apart from her colleagues. Her music is a fusion of several of these influences, from the music she loves, Bossa Nova, to the music she was born into, Turkish, with the music she was raised in, American Pop and Jazz. The end result is music with beautiful, captivating subject matter; awe-inspiring lyrics embraced with sophisticated, infectious melodies; pure, enchanting vocals over sexy, latin and middle-eastern rhythms that leaves any listener completely spell-bound. It’s no wonder her listeners keep coming back for more.

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Turkish Flautist Sefika Kutluer, is a flute soloist who is a master technician with a great musicianship.She takes her place as one of the most distinguished flute soloist on the world scene whose work receives wide appraisal. She has studied at Ankara State Conservatory and graduated with honors and awards in 1979, when she became a flute member of the “Presidential Symphony Orchestra” .

She studied for her soloist career in Vienna and Rome.

She taught at the Ankara Conservatory for several years.

She has a wide range of repertoire varying from Baroque, classical, romantic and crossover works to the music of the east and the west.

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Friday, March 24, 2006

Festival diary

ANKARA - Turkish Daily News

The ongoing 3rd Martfest ODTÜ is continuing to entertain Ankara concertgoers with shows by extraordinary musicians.

One of them is Gülden Gökçen, a genius of classical music who has been playing the piano since she was 6 years old.

Tonight the festival will present a performance titled “Güldencaz,” the first-ever concert in Ankara to feature songs from Gökçen’s debut album of the same name.

The album comprises 12 instrumental tracks composed by Gökçen, one of the most innovative interpreters of jazz in Turkey.

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“Ersahin has that tough, dry tone that (John) Coltrane developed, but fortunately doesn’t use it to copy the latter’s style.” Dave McElfresh Cadence”Tenor saxophonist, Ilhan Ersahin hones a beautifully dark tone and fetching sense of melody.” John Murphy Jazz Times

As both a saxophonist and composer, Ilhan Ersahin has grown into one of the most creative and adventurous music artists on the contemporary improvising scene since moving to New York from Istanbul, Turkey 12 years ago. While he is influenced primarily by American post-boppers, Ersahin has also absorbed the essentials of reggae, hip-hop, and pop in addition to middle eastern folk music. The profound impact of these diverse influences is clearly evident in his musical expressions. Unlike many other instrumentalists of his generation Ersahin is writing for a trio of sax, bass and drums-one of the most challenging instrumental formats in jazz-while also putting out some very strong hip-hop charts as well as leading a killer post modern jazz quintet.

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“In the years of intense search, a concept of sound and space that had been always been present in Aydin Esen’s works has come to the point where it completely upturns the formal logica. Attention to listening and philosophy of the possible. Starting point is the sound rather than the pre-exisiting forms of sorts- and the sound idea that spreads into the infinite possibles both as far as the formal initeraries and the physical spaces for the stage are concerned, not the mention the technical elements, which are at their most advanced stage.The use of live electronics, the computer, the study of spacial dynamics and the discoveries of other paths of unexpected aural experiences which at times fade out mysteriously towards the limit of audibility”.

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