Çiğdem Aslan

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Çiğdem Aslan, 2014

Çiğdem Aslan (born 1980 in Istanbul ) is a musician with Alevi- Kurdish roots. Her singing orientation is the folk music of Asia Minor , Greece , the Balkans , the Eastern European Roma and Klezmer in various languages. She is considered to be the representative of a new direction in rebetiko .

Life and artistic career

Çiğdem Aslan comes from a musical family with a Kurdish-Alevi background. She studied English literature at Istanbul University and moved to London in 2003 . There she studied music at Goldsmiths College, University of London . Influenced by ethnic Turkish and Sephardic music , she joined the Dunav Balkan Group in London , a music group that broadened her musical horizons. From 2008 she played with the klezmer band She'Koyokh . In addition, she also works with the songwriter Tahir Palalı, whose Anatolian folk songs she repeatedly performs. For her debut album Mortissa , released in 2013 on the Berlin independent label Asphalt Tango Records , she received the German Record Critics' Prize in 2014 . The album contains the music of a reinterpreted rebetiko of the 1930s and songs by the Greeks who fled Smyrna and Anatolia . At the beginning of 2016 she performed in a refugee camp in Calais , where she sang songs from the homeland of the refugees, some of which are also included on her new album A Thousand Cranes . She writes: “The concept of the album is about migration. And as the refugee crisis continues, around the world, I think it's very important to have the traditional music. Because traditional music is like home for me. "

Publications

Çiğdem Aslan performs in well-known international locations and has been releasing music albums since 2012:

  • 2011: She'koyokh - Buskers Ballroom
  • 2012: Various Artists - London's Calling 2012
  • 2013: Mortissa
  • 2014: She'koyokh - Wild Goats & Unmarried Women
  • 2015: Tahir Palalı - O - 2015
  • 2016: A Thousand Cranes

Review (selection)

Çiğdem Aslan's music is consistently well received in the media. In addition to articles in the trade press, articles also appeared in daily newspapers. Both the British Guardian and the free Evening Standard have devoted extensive articles to her. The French daily Liberation conducted an interview with her in February 2014. The Viennese cultural magazine European Cultural News describes her as “a fiery Snow White from Turkey”, but becomes much more objective in the course of the text. The Internet portal of Deutsche Welle, Qantara.de , reported on Çiğdem Aslan's first European tour, which began in Berlin, and describes her music as "the songs of the outcasts" and the Rembetiko as "Aegean blues".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Portrait of Cigdem Aslan: The songs of the outcasts. on Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World ( qantara.de ).
  2. ^ Website of the German Record Critics Prize Association
  3. ^ Bio - Çiğdem Aslan. cigdemaslan.com, accessed on October 22, 2016 (biographical information on Çiğdem Aslan's official website).
  4. ↑ Cigdem Aslan "A Thousand Cranes" - A musical journey into the multicultural Asia Minor . In: Deutschlandradio Kultur . October 20, 2016 ( deutschlandradiokultur.de ).
  5. ↑ Robin Denselow: Çiğdem Aslan - review . In: The Guardian . October 15, 2013 ( theguardian.com ).
  6. ^ Çiğdem Aslan, The Vortex - music review . In: Evening Standard . October 14, 2013 ( co.uk ).
  7. ^ Çiğdem Aslan: "Je chante les femmes de caractère". Libération.fr, accessed on October 22, 2016 (recording of the interview).
  8. ↑ A fiery Snow White from Turkey . In: European Cultural News . October 23, 2014 ( european-cultural-news.com ).
personal data
SURNAME Aslan, Çiğdem
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Musician with Alevi-Kurdish roots
DATE OF BIRTH 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Istanbul