Ahmet Erdoğdular Ensemble
Ahmet Erdoğdular, Ömer Erdoğdular, Münir Nurettin Beken, Feridun Özgören
AHMET ERDOĞDULARAhmet Erdoğdular is Turkey’s foremost vocalist noted for his role in preserving the classical singing style of the Ottoman Turkish musical tradition. He started studying music at an early age with his father, neyzen Ömer Erdoğdular, and continued his musical development with the guidance of the renowned musician Niyazi Sayın. He participated in various concerts as a lead singer while still a teenager. Ahmet holds a BA degree from the Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory where he also completed his Masters degree in Turkish Classical Music under the guidance of Professor Alaeddin Yavaşça. He specialized in Turkish gazel (improvisation) technique, while his academic research is on the use of music and poetry in gazel forms of the late Ottoman period. Ahmet studied makam and improvisation techniques with Niyazi Sayın, Necdet Yaşar and Kani Karaca, and performed with them in Turkey and around the world.
ÖMER ERDOĞDULARÖmer Erdoğdular started studying music while still a child. He was born in Konya and grew up in Istanbul, initially learning ney from his father. In 1965 he began studying with Ümit Gürelman, and soon after started lessons with Niyazi Sayın, which continued for many years. In the following two decades, he participated in many radio and TV programs, orchestras and concerts in a period when ney just began to be rediscovered in Turkey. In 1980 he first appeared in concert with the famous soloist Bekir Sıtkı Sezgin, and from then on played in most of his concerts. From 1984 to 1987, Ömer Erdoğdular was a neyzen in Nevzat Atlığ’s Ministry of Culture Classical Turkish Music Chorus. He made several recordings, among them with Bekir Sıtkı Sezgin, tanburi Necdet Yaşar and kemençevi İhsan Özgen. In 1987 he became a member of the Ministry of Culture’s State Classical Turkish Music Ensemble founded by Necdet Yaşar of which he is still an active member. As a soloist, a member of the State Classical Turkish Music Ensemble and also the Necdet Yaşar Ensemble, Ömer Erdoğdular performed around Turkey and in Europe, United States, Japan and the Middle East, participating in various festivals, concerts and recitals. He devotes a significant amount of his time to teaching, both in Turkey, giving lessons and teaching in workshops, and in seminars abroad, such as the Labyrinth Musical Workshop in Greece, Makamhane in Austria and the Sufi Music Retreat in the United States of America.
MÜNİR NURETTİN BEKENMünir Beken’s career spans theory, composition, ethnomusicology, and performance. As a composer, he has written a state-commissioned ballet suite for orchestra, won awards for film music, and scored television documentaries both domestically and internationally. His scholarly work focuses on modal theory; he is also conducting research on musical globalization and the phenomenology of music. He has published inEthnomusicology, a premier journal in the field, and contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He was one of the founding members of the State Turkish Music Ensemble. As a soloist on the ud, he has performed in venues across the U.S. and has recorded a solo CD with Rounder Records.
FERİDUN ÖZGÖRENAfter graduating with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Istanbul University, Feridun Özgören started working for the State Institute of Statistics. In 1973 he came to the United States for an advanced degree in biostatistics at the University of Michigan. He obtained a masters degree in 1978 from the School of Public Health where he later worked as a research associate. Özgören is also a musician and artist. His collaboration with several American musicians led to the founding of the EurAsia Ensemble in 1983 with the aim of studying and performing the traditional forms of Turkish music. In addition, he enjoys making classical instruments, including tanbur, ud, kemence, ney, latva, and bendir. During the last 10 years, Özgören has been the director of the Cambridge Mûsiki Cemiyeti, a choral and instrumental group devoted to Turkish music. He also practices ebru since 1986, which he learned from Niyazi Sayin, a highly respected artist and a master musician living in Istanbul. Özgören’s distinctive style combines the rich patterns and sumptuous colors of traditional ebrû with the highly powerful inscriptions of Ottoman calligraphy.
Anadolu Turkish Folk Dancers
This group was founded in 1979 and has performed in the Northwest for many years. At TurkFest, the group presents authentic Turkish folk dances from the Aegean, Thrace, Black Sea, Southern, and Southeastern regions of Turkey. The group includes dancers of all ages from various ethnic backgrounds, many of whom are also instructors. Instructors/Dancers: Serhad Ataktürk, Tamar Hoge, Yasemin San, Rana San, and Serdar Soysal. Dancers: Erdal Bayseçkin, Zeynep Ertugay, Melissa McCall, Izumi Fairbanks, Gulay Gulek-Bakirci, Isabel Ibrahim, Gurer Kıratlı, Bilge Soysal, Deniz Kıral, Recep Demir.
Şehr-i Seattle
Sehr-i Seattle has performed as a group for a year now and they focus on various types of Turkish music. The members of the group are, Mert Sedef, Aslı Selçuk, Güneş Bıyıkoğlu, Berk Nadir, Batuhan Bıyıkoğlu, Tamer Erzurumlu, Barış Saydağ, Bilgen Çakır.
Karavans Dance Troupe
Karavans Dance Troupe has been performing for many years in the Puget Sound area at cultural festivals, community events and for educational enrichment programs. Their résumé covers everything from an Arabian horse fair to the U.S. premiere of two modern Egyptian plays to a reception hosted by the mayor of Seattle. In 1996 the troupe was selected by the King County Arts Commission to participate in their Performing Arts series. Annual events include the Folklife Festival, Cultural Crossroads and the Arab Festival, sponsored by the Arab Center of Washington. Karavans also offers workshops on the music, dance and costuming of the Arab world.
Anar Dana – Helene Eriksen’s Traditional Dance Theater
Helene is a teacher and choreographer of traditional dances of the Balkans and Islamic Orient. She lectures and publishes on dance ethnology and costume studies. In order to do this she has conducted many research projects in Bulgaria, ex-Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Egypt, the ex-USSR, Tunisia and Morocco as well as with immigrants in Germany, Canada and the USA. She speaks several Languages. She is an active member of the Study Group on Ethnochoreology (ICTM/UNESCO). For many years she has been leading dance and culture study tours and now she is the director of her own travel agency Window on the World Voyages.
Troupe Du Soleil
Troupe du Soleil was formed in 2003 in Tri-Cities, Washington. Dancing at Turkfest are founding members Karena Montee and Chrystal Brawdy. We enjoy learning and performing dances of the Ottoman Empire as well as the Danse Orientale. We also enjoy studying the history and culture of the origins of the wonderful music, dances, and costumes.
Emiko Noor
Emiko Karunamrita Noor Nakamura is a world-class graceful performer, inspiring coach, eccentric choreographer, one of the earnest dance educators of Eastern Dances and coordinators of dance and music events. Her unique art and humanitarian approaches are cherished and loved by both audiences and fans in the West and in the East. She specializes in Persian, Turkic and East-Indian Devotional, Classical and Folk Dances. Emiko has gifted communication skills with youths. This is maybe because she is also a mother of two children. She also has hands-on dance teaching experiences of over 26 years for children and adults via several-inter faith churches/communities, where she managed to teach as many as many as 45 children or adults with associate/assistant teachers.
Anadolu Youth Dancers
Anadolu Youth Dancers consists of the Turkish American children of Seattle area. The group started in 2009 with 13 children, and since then it grew to over 30 children. We performed at various festivals in the regioun including International Children’s Friendship Festival, Northwest FolkLife Festival and at TurkFest.
Troupe Du Soleil
Troupe du Soleil was formed in 2003 in Tri-Cities, Washington. Dancing at Turkfest are founding members Karena Montee and Chrystal Brawdy. We enjoy learning and performing dances of the Ottoman Empire as well as the Danse Orientale. We also enjoy studying the history and culture of the origins of the wonderful music, dances, and costumes.
Bulgarian Folk Music Group – “Alexander Eppler”
This newly formed ensemble founded by master kaval player Alexander Eppler,performs the music listened and danced to in Bulgaria for over the past 800 years. Led by Alexander Eppler – gaida (Bulgarian bagpipe) it includes his students, Virginia Marel – tambura (lute), Izumi Fairbanks – tupan (drum) with Johan Gascoigne – contrabass.
Biography
Alexander Eppler occupies an interesting place in the history of Bulgarian music. A student of Nikola Ganchev and Dragan Karapchanski, he was the first (and at that time, the only) kaval player to be accepted into the Bulgarian state conservatory. Following his studies, Mr. Eppler performed as a soloist in Plovdiv with the Thracian Ensemble and also in Assen Diamandiev’s collective. He assisted with the direction of The Pioneer Ensemble in Haskovo and taught kaval and other Bulgarian instruments in Haskovo, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv and Burgas. Alexander Eppler is the world’s oldest, most experienced maker of Bulgarian kavals, inventing his own “Eppler-system” kaval in 1976. In the late 1970s he took up the cimbalom, studying under the Romanian virtuoso Toni Iordache. As close friends, they performed concerts together in North America and Europe for over five years, producing a recording in 1986. He currently appears as a guest conductor for symphony orchestras and choirs in North America and Europe.