Zülfü Livaneli:
A Renaissance Man from The Bosporus
"Livaneli has truly established himself in the West" - Billboard
"Livaneli has taken his place among the aestheticians of modern cinema like Angelopoulos, Paradjanov, Wenders and Ruiz" - Liberation
"Livaneli is a real poet" - Le Matin
Zülfü Livaneli is a longstanding force in Turkish arts and culture. He has composed over three hundred songs, thirty film soundtracks, a rhapsody and a ballet – recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. His compositions have reached cult status in his home Turkey and have additionally been performed by internationally renowned artists such as Joan Baez, U2, María del Mar Bonet, Udo Lindenberg, Maria Farantouri, Haris Alexiou, Jocelyn B. Smith, Kate Westbrook, Mikis Theodorakis, Zubin Mehta and George Dalaras.
Livaneli’s musical career took flight in 1973 with the release of his first album Chants Révolutionnaires Turcs. Livaneli quickly became a household name in Turkey for his traditional songs promoting peace and humanity. His legendary open-air concert in 1997 at the Ankara Hippodrome was attended by no less than 500,000 people. He is one of the foremost advocates of Turkish-Greek friendship, giving concerts in both countries to promote good relations between the two neighbors. A UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Zülfü Livaneli’s long musical career has spanned generations -- this year celebrates Livaneli’s 40th year of musical accomplishments.
Livaneli’s prolific musical career has also attracted world attention. In 1999, he was awarded Premio Luigi Tenco (Best Songwriter Award) in San Remo, Italy. He has also received Record of the Year in Greece in 1982, a West German Critics Record of the Year Prize and an Edison Award.
A true Renaissance man, Livaneli’s talents extend to literature and film. He currently has published eleven novels in 24 languages, five plays and has directed four feature films. He is a bestseller in Turkey, Spain, Greece, Germany and Korea and his novel Bliss has been transformed into one of the most acclaimed Turkish films of the decade. The film was reviewed by the New York Times as a consistently gripping, visually intoxicating film and stands as a landmark of contemporary Turkish cinema.
http://www.livaneli.net
maNga:
Turkish alternative rock giant maNga formed in 2001 when frontman Yağmur Sarıgül broke from his regular gig in a local cover band to experiment with his own fusion of rock and electronic music. When his style attracted Özgür Can Öney (Drums), Efe Yılmaz (Turntables), Ferman Akgül (Vocals) and Cem Bahtiyar (Bass Guitar) maNga was born. The reason they chose the word for the traditional Japanese graphic novels was because the band brought five different characters, five different music styles and five different world views together.
maNga came into the public spotlight in 2004 after the release of their first self-titled album with Sony Music Turkey, which became an instant success. With sales over 180,000 copies, the band earned a Gold Record award and their album was released in Japan to great acclaim. The first single, “Bir Kadın Çizeceksin,” was included in the EA Sports FIFA 2006 computer game soundtrack. The band toured all over Turkey performing at more than 250 concerts. Additionally, the band headlined several important music festivals including Rock’n Coke in Istanbul and has taken the stage at the world famous Wembley Arena and the O2 Academy in London.
Since the release of their debut album, maNga’s style has become increasingly melodic. Their changing worldviews and increasing taste of music brought an influx of stylistic changes to their music. This is evident in their sophomore album Şehr-i Hüzün released in 2009. One can hear traditional instruments like the nay (reed flute), tambour (circular drum) and baglama (lute with neck) on the album that create an organic blend of Western and Oriental sounds with minor melodies that portray love, solitude, death and melancholy.
Recently maNga was awarded the Best European Act award at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards, while with their pan-European hit “We Could Be the Same” the band came in second at the Eurovision Song in 2010. maNga continues to grow in popularity as their fusion of Anatolian melodies, rock, electronic and hip-hop reaches new audiences around the world.
http://www.manga.web.tr
NY Gypsy All-Stars:
"A showboat of a performer, Lumanovski is an adventurous, modern-minded frontman who leads his band through a varied terrain of Balkan, Turkish and Romany selections, spiked with jazz and Western styles." - Cristina Black, Time Out New York
"Lumanovski and Senlendirici proved spectacular players who had listened hard to Coltrane and Dolphy -- especially Lumanovski, his sound very soprano sax, lots of burr and flutter and overtone." - Robert Christgau, Salon.com
"They have taken the ground-breaking Turkish fusion band Laço Tayfa's music as their jumping off point and continued in that spirit of exploration… eclectic and full of inquisitiveness." - Michal Shapiro, The Huffington Post
The New York Gypsy All-Stars (NYGA), masters of contemporary Balkan Gypsy music, is a musical chemistry experiment with explosive staying power. Living up to their name in every way, the NYGA blend traditional Gypsy and Turkish melodies with a scorching jazz and funk backbone, creating a unique sound that satisfies the brain and soul. The band exemplifies New York in the most eclectic sense possible, hailing from Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Brooklyn.
Equally at home in a concert hall or a downtown club, NYGA embraces opportunities to bring their music to new listeners in non-traditional spaces. The group continues on this path with their groundbreaking debut album “Romantek,” coming out in April 2011. The name “Romantek” is marked by blasphemous sizzling chops and a marked disregard of any specific musical style limitations. Heart wrenching melodies, lavish ornamentation and off-beat improvisation against complex drum rhythms—an East-meets-West fusion of the highest order.
The NYGA combine complexity with cohesion, playing intricate melodies with a breathtaking dexterity, musicality and tenacity. Headman Ismail Lumanovski, Macedonian/ Turkish virtuosic clarinetist blends the nuanced talent of a Julliard masters scholar and international contest winner with the musical sensibilities of a long time classical music listener. Lumanovski is accompanied impeccably by Tamer Pinarbasi, who plays the Kanun/Quanun (Turkish zither), combining classical Turkish scales and Western harmonies. Engin Gunaydin, percussion extraordinaire, gravitated towards jazz and contemporary set playing which landed him squarely in the ranks of The Berklee College of Music. There he solidified himself as an accomplished percussionist and jazz set player. Bringing the funk, Panagiotis Andreou, from Greece, has graced audiences around the globe with his vast stylistic repertoire. Andreou was recently awarded “Best Latin Jazz Bassist of the year” for 2010, in esteemed jazz blog “The Latin Jazz Corner”. Jason Lidner, as described by Chick Corea, is “a musical universe”. In the NYGA he commands the keyboards, but is also an acclaimed bandleader, composer and arranger. Lidner’s artistic projects and musical collaborations are as exhaustive as his abilities.
NYGA has performed with artists like Selim Sesler, Derya Koroglu, Al di Meola, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Ivo Papasov, Husnu Senlendirici and Vassilis Saleas.
http://www.nygypsyallstars.com
