During the Szczecin’s Bonds of Culture Festival there will be two evenings of improvised music held in the Small Courtyard of the Pomeranian Dukes’ Castle. The event will be hosted by musicians associated with the ZAR Theatre and the project Armine, Sister and guests invited by them:
Murat Içlinalça was born in 1985 in Istanbul. He has been a student of Armenian church music since he was 8 years old, having Nisan Çalgıcıyan as master. He has studied singing and folk music at the Istanbul Technical University Music Conservatory, from which he graduated in 2010. At same year he was appointed master singer at the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Church in Istanbul.
Mustafa Demirci
He was born on 20.02.1981 in Sakarya. He met with music by his piano training taken during his childhood. He has graduated from State Conservatory for Turkish Music of Ege University. He worked with so respectful tutors as Akın Özkan, Onur Akdoğu, Seher Dilmaç, Alper Demir, Nuri Mahmut, Özgen Akçagül during his Conservatory Education. He plays Kanun professionally. His subspecialty is piano. Artist has his own compositions. He completed his non-thesis master's degree in 2007 by participating in many projects under Prof. Dr. Berrak Taranç at Department of Music Teaching in Social Science Institute of Ege University. He took stages as Zither Player at many concerts inland and abroad. He had joined in polyphonic chorus founded under State Symphony Orchestra of Izmir between 2001-2003 as Baritone. So, he worked with so respectful maestros as Rengim Gökmen, Caner Ruhselman and perform with Fazıl Say and Fahir Atakoğlu. At the same time, he started to teach music in Izmir. In 2007, he came to Istanbul and has continued his task in National Education Ministry.
In 2013, he completed his master degree with "Analysis of Extant Works of Composer Rakım Elkutlu" in field of Religious Music at Faculty of Theology of Social Science Institute of Marmara University. In 2014, he started his Phd education in Position of Special Student at Music Teaching Science Division of Marmara University. He continues his Phd education under Prof.Dr. Mustafa Uslu. He still lives in Uskudar, Istanbul, and continues his task as Music Teacher at Ataşehir Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar High School and Istanbul Science and Art Center.The Duet Mustafa DEMİRCİ & Murat İÇLİNALÇA as friends for a long time continue their works in field of Traditional Turkish Music. In this sense, they joined many concerts professionally inland and abroad. It is possible to find many forms of extent rich Turkish Music from Ottoman period in their music. You will experience unique sensation and difference of screen music during performance of Mustafa DEMİRCİ as Kanun Player and Murat İÇLİNALÇA as Vocalist.
Marjan Vahdat was both trained in classical Persian singing by master musicians in Iran as well as in regional and traditional Iranian music. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran, public female singing was banned and even some years after the revolution female singers can only perform for women-only audiences or alongside a male voice, and can never perform solo in public. But many female singers in Iran have continued singing regardless, as has Marjan, who give private concerts in Iran but mostly perform outside of the country. Her repertoire is inspired by regional and traditional music from Iran with their own musical expression; her lyrics are mostly mystical and love poems by great Persian poets like Hafez, Rumi, Saadi, who lived several centuries ago, as well as contemporary Iranian poetry speaking about Iranian society. An active campaigner for human rights, Marjan is also one of the ambassadors of Freemuse, an independent international organisation advocating freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide.
Vahan Kerovpyan was born in Paris, now lives in Porto. He is musician, instrumentalist and composer. He leads workshops on drum and percussion playing, on which he performs since childhood. For several years he followed courses of dehol with Edmond Zartarian, also zarb and dap with Madjid Khaladj. Moreover, he plays piano and sings in the Armenian choir Akn. He is a member of Kotchnak since 2003 and a musician of the Medz Bazar collective, formed in Paris in 2012. He completed Armenian studies at the French National Institute of Eastern Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), also studied history at the Sorbonne University (IV). He collaborates with artists, composing music for performances, playing and singing alive. He participates in projects connected with preservation and development of the Armenian cultural heritage, among others he leads classes for Armenian children, publishes articles, works in renovation of the Armenian monuments in Turkey.
Dengbej Kazo was born in 1950 in Van and now lives near Istanbul. He often gives concerts performing both popular Kurdish songs and his own compositions. He also improvises in keeping with the tradition of the dengbej (travelling Kurdish singers and storytellers). In 1960 the Turkish government officially banned the practice of the dengbej. In the 1980s many of the dengbej had to move to the cities in search of safety and work, and settled in their poorest sections. The dengbej tradition started to fade into oblivion. In 2003 a number of EU-funded projects were begun to protect this tradition. The memory of the dengbej is a rich fund of knowledge about Kurdish history and tradition. Documentation efforts are now underway to describe this extraordinary phenomenon of voices that embody the past.
Aram Kerovpyan was born in Istanbul. As a youth, he received liturgical chant training in the Armenian Church. He learned to play the kanoun and studied the Middle Eastern music system with master musician Saadeddin Öktenay. In 1977, he moved to Paris where he devoted himself entirely to music, playing with various Middle Eastern musicians. In 1980, he joined the Ensemble de Musique Arménienne that later became Kotchnak. From this date on, Armenian music became his principle field of research, particularly the modal system of liturgical chant. In 1985, he formed Akn, an ensemble of Armenian liturgical chant. Parallel to his activities as a musician, Aram Kerovpyan participates in conferences, lectures in Europe and in North America, publishes articles and does research in the field of Armenian modal music theory. He is a doctor of musicology. Since 1990, he is the master-singer of the Armenian cathedral in Paris.
Virginia Pattie Kerovpyan was born in Washington, D.C. While in the USA, she studied singing and sang in a number of choirs and early music ensembles as both chorist and soloist. Upon her arrival in France, she continued her voice studies at the École Normale Supérieure de Musique de Paris and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. Virginia Pattie Kerovpyan has performed and recorded with early music ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut de Paris, Per Cantar e Sonar, l’Offrande Musicale, La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy. In 1976, she formed with Rouben Haroutunian the duo that would later become Kotchnak, and in 1985 helped to form the ensemble of Armenian liturgical chant Akn, of which she is the female vocalist.
