About Kardes Türküler

Kardeş Türküler came into being in 1993, as a concert project by the Boğaziçi University Folklore Club. The concert, which aimed to interpret Anatolian folksongs based on their own cultural structure and in their original languages, was comprised of four sections: Turkish, Kurdish, Azerbaijani and Armenian. The project, based on the ideal of living together in fraternity, also took a stand against the polarization and tensions which had been created among different peoples in a multicultural land. Later on, the Kardeş Türküler project began broadening its repertoire, performing songs from such cultures as Laz, Georgian, Circassian, Roma, Macedonian and Alevi among others. These were arranged in accordance with the philosophy of the ensemble. The project took its place within the musical division of Boğaziçi Performing Arts Ensemble (BGST), formed in 1995, and went on to be performed at a variety of arts events, cultural evenings, festivals and celebrations. In June of 1997, 'Kardeş Türküler'-an album with various examples from the musical traditions of the Anatolian/Mesopotamian landscape- was released by Kalan Music. In 1998, Kardeş Türküler was voted 'Group of the Year' in a survey by a private radio station broadcasting in Turkey. The second album was based on a project with a more local and specific focus:'Doğu' (East) (Kalan,1999) The 'Doğu' album was reviewed in the July 2000 issue of Folk Roots, and during the same period, came in fourth on the playlist of the English station Radio Not-Wonderful. In February 2000, two of the songs interpreted by the ensemble were included in the CD accompanying Jerome Cler's book 'Musiques de Turquie' (Cité de la Musiques, Actes Sud, France). One piece from 'Doğu' was also included in a miscellaneous album accompanying the October issue of Songlines, which was devoted to Anatolian music. Folk Roots, in its January-February 2001 issue, included another of the ensemble's songs. The same magazine published an interview with Kardeş Türküler in its August-September 2002 issue. The German magazine Folker! made an interview with the ensemble and it was published in its May-June 2002 issue. The ensemble also undertook to bring the multiculturalism and multi-ethnic makeup of its own land in a music video, in Turkish and Kurdish, as an example of cultural give-and-take in the musical realm. Though the video, as a 'first', was reported in the main news programs, it did not receive wide coverage by the self-censoring national channels. Still, it received positive feedback from circles devoted to fraternity and peace. Kardeş Türküler performed the musical direction and arrangement of the famous Kurdish singer Şivan Perwer's album 'Roj û Heyv' (Sun and Moon) (Ses, 2000). It then prepared the music for the eastern-themed film 'Vizontele', directed by Yılmaz Erdoğan and Ömer F. Sorak. This work, also published as a soundtrack (Kalan, 2001), received the award for 'Best Film Music' at the 38th Annual Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in October 2001. It received the same award from the Cinema Writer's Association. In 2002, being prepared again with the concept of multiculturalism, the 'Hemâvâz' album (Kalan, 2002) also reached the international audience with its release (Connecting Cultures, 2003) in Europe. The last album, which was made up of the musics of the movie 'Vizontele Tuuba', directed by Yılmaz Erdoğan, was released by Kalan Music in January 2004. ...In 2005, the last album of Kardeş Türküler "Bahar" (Spring) was released, again by Kalan Music.