Mikail Aslan

Mikail Aslan (2016)

Mikail Aslan , Kurdish and Zaza spelling Mikaîl Aslan (* 1972 in Tunceli ) is a Kurdish - Zaza singer and musician from Turkey who lives in Germany.

biography

When he was ten, he and his family had to move to Kayseri . After finishing high school, he began to study mathematics. After two years, however, he had to quit his studies prematurely for political reasons and decided to deal professionally with music. He has been playing saz since childhood . In Turkey he worked with the most famous Turkish-Kurdish musicians and founded the music group Grup Munzur . With this group he composed his own songs and recorded a CD. In 1994 he had to leave Turkey for political reasons. He continued his activities as a musician and songwriter with the Turkish music group Tohum with Kemal Dinç (pedagogue at the Codarts University of Music in Rotterdam) and the bassist and composer Ergin Aslan in Germany. He produced three songs for Tohum's project Ogul . In 1999 he recorded the solo project Agêrayis in his mother tongue, Zazaisch . In order to be able to play the music in concert, he looked for musicians with jazz experience . So he expanded his traditional music. In 2000 he then founded the Mikail Aslan Ensemble with Dieter Schmalzried and Michael Weil .

In 2001 he began studying guitar and saxophone as an instrumental teacher at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory in Mainz , which he completed in 2005 with an exam. In 2003 the CD Kilitê Kou was published, which is intended as a document of the Alevi culture from his homeland Dersim (Tunceli). His cousin Ahmet Aslan took part in this album. In between, Mikail Aslan composed and played the music for two documentaries about Anatolia (arte TV / ZDF). In 2005 the third solo CD Miraz was recorded.

Mikail Aslan Ensemble

In February 2000 the Mikail Aslan Ensemble was founded by Mikail Aslan, Michael Weil and Dieter Schmalzried in Mainz. The musical basis are original compositions and traditional pieces from the homeland of Mikail Aslan. The musical roots are in the Zaza, Kurdish, Armenian , Persian and Turkish musical cultures. Most of the lyrics of the pieces of music are in Zazaisch.

The first results were presented in concerts in Wiesbaden and Mainz in 2002 . A preliminary highlight of this work was a concert by the extended ensemble with the symphony orchestra of the Peter Cornelius Conservatory Mainz in the world premiere of the symphony No. 5 "Connections" by Gerhard Fischer-Münster on April 20, 2005. The symphony is based on the piece " Flucht des Munzur (Remayisê Munzuri) ”composed by Mikail Aslan and combines traditional Anatolian sounds with the modern version of the Mikail Aslan Ensemble and the sounds of the European symphony orchestra.