Hazar (musician)

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Hazar (born June 18, 1977 as Ulaş Hazar in Malatya ; since 2020 stage name Hazar) is a jazz guitarist and saz player.

Hazar (musician)

Live and act

First career

Hazar, who does not come from a family of musicians, was already an autodidact who played demanding masterpieces on the long-necked and short-necked lute at the age of 13 . The initial spark for his game came when Paco de Lucia attended a concert . In addition to taking composition lessons, Hazar took lessons in harmony and counterpoint from Tibor Yusti von Arth, Sergei Wassiljewitsch Rachmaninoff's last student .

In 2007, Hazar composed new live music for the Paramount Pictures documentary classic Grass by directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack .

During his studies at the Maastricht Conservatorium , he dealt with the way of playing the saz in order to be able to transfer western music styles such as classical, jazz and flamenco to the saz in addition to the traditional way of playing , and he dealt intensively with microtonal music , maqam and polyrhythmics and their applications in Jazz improvisations. In 2011 he received his master's degree.

Hazar's music is shaped by different genres of jazz with influences from fusion , bebop and flamenco, whereby he also dealt with microtonal music and polyrhythmics . His style is characterized on the one hand by harmoniously complex improvisations in very fast tempos and on the other hand by touching melodies and compositions. Music critic Karsten Rube said: "The only comparison can be found in his great role model Paco de Lucia."

In 2009 Hazar released his first album called Virtuoso together with bassist Carles Benavent . With works by Chick Corea , Johann Sebastian Bach , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Niccolò Paganini , then on the three-stringed lute Saz, Hazar fused jazz, classical, flamenco and traditional sounds. In particular, playing Caprices 5, 16 and 24 by Niccolò Paganini on the saz surprised string instrument experts: "What Hazar plays on his saz is actually unplayable, but he plays it anyway."

His playing technique in Caprice No. 16 helped him to praise: "The Paganini of the Saz."

By transferring the caprices composed for the violin by Nicolo Paganini to the long-necked lute, which was a challenge even for elite violinists, he raised the technical level of the saz to the highest level and took it out of its role as the traditional accompanying instrument. Saz legend Talip Özkan describes Hazar as "the best saz player of all time".

Birger Gesthuisen pointed out the integrative dimension of his work in Folker with the words: "We need more musicians like Ulaş Hazar, who leads the long-necked lute from the ethnic ghetto and from the musical [ghetto] into the concert hall."

In 2010, after a development and research phase of ten years, Hazar released a patented Saz with an asymmetrical body made of carbon . In the same year he went on tour under the Hazar & 100 Saz project , in which he was also the conductor of his orchestra consisting of 100 of his Saz students.

As the first musician, Hazar was given the opportunity to do his master's degree in jazz with the Saz thanks to the unanimous decision of the university committee at the Maastricht Conservatory . He dealt intensively with the way of playing the saz, in order to be able to transfer western music styles such as classical, jazz and flamenco to the saz in addition to the traditional way of playing , and with microtonal music , maqam and polyrhythmics and their applications in jazz improvisations. In 2011 he received his master's degree.

Under the motto “Masters of Saz” Hazar went on tour with Saz legend Arif Sağ in 2012 and received an honorary award. Arif Sag said about him in front of a sold-out audience in the Mozart Hall in the Liederhalle Stuttgart: “After hearing Hazar on the Saz, I can die in peace.” In the following year Hazar gave several together with Erkan Oğur under the project Earthy Smelling Tones of Anatolia Concerts supported by the cultural office.

Second career

In the middle of his musical career, Hazar changed instruments and began playing acoustic guitar. His switch to guitar was influenced by guitarist John McLaughlin , among others . In a conversation with John McLaughlin after a concert in Cologne, he said of Hazar's album: 'If you want to show your skills, you should play the guitar.'

Hazar and Al Di Meola went to the studio to record his album "Reincarnated", which was released in 2020 . “He masters a congenial interplay, alternating with sonorous melodies, virtuoso passages, rapid runs and spectacular technique, while he always allows new depths of feeling to flow into his playing. What is remarkable here is that it always maintains a very strong and clean tone even at fast speeds. "

The album repertoire ranges from Bossa Nova “Made For Wesley”, pieces like the heated “Bossa Dorado” and Biréli Lagrène's waltz “Made in France” to Charlie Parker's finger-breaking bebop classic “ Donna Lee ” and the fiery “Spain” by Chick Corea . Michael Sagmeister worked as a supervisor at his side during the recordings . The songs were recorded in a recording studio in which jazz legend Miles Davis made his recordings during his lifetime and mastered in the famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

Further activity

In order to pass on his knowledge to the next generation, Hazar founded a Saz academy in 2008. Hazar has taught hundreds of students in many countries - voluntary children and young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and from families with a migration background. In 2014 he founded a large folk music choir and gave a concert in the Hegelsaal with over 200 musicians.

In addition to numerous jury memberships, Hazar was a member of the federal jury at the 55th and 56th federal music competition Jugend musiziert in 2018 and 2019 .

Discography

  • 2009: Virtuoso with Carles Benavent and Rafael Cortes, Acoustic Music , GTIN / EAN: 4013429114094
  • 2020: Reincarnated with Al Di Meola, Recordjet, GTIN / EAN: 4050215970755

literature

  • SAZ: The new concept with tablatures, incl. CD (German) paperback, November 20, 2015, Acoustic Music GmbH & Co. KG, ISBN 978-3945190074

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 15. Kaleidoskop OpenAirKino 2006 removed and dangerous ... Accessed June 18, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Karsten Rube: Folk World CD Reviews. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
  3. ^ Paganini in Turkish, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, review of August 18, 2009. In: FAZ. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c Ulas Hazar, CD: Virtuoso. In: Acoustic Music. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Birger Gesthuisen: ULAS HAZAR - Virtuoso. In: Folker. Retrieved June 15, 2020 .
  6. ^ Arif Sag: Bizim Aachen, Aachen ve cevresi icin turkce dergi. S. Issue 2. Pages 12–13 .
  7. ↑ HAZAR feat. AL DI MEOLA - Reincarnated. Retrieved June 19, 2020 .
  8. ↑ play baglama, m. Audio CD. Retrieved June 19, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Hazar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hazar, Ulaş (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jazz guitarist and saz player
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1977