Deep Songs from Anatolia featuring Zelişah and Mustafa

Описание: Deep Songs from Anatolia featuring Zelişah and Mustafa. A musical performance and conversation with Christopher King and Andreas Zombanakis

About the lecture

The Gennadiυs Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens is once again hosting award winning American ethnomusicologist Christopher C. King. A celebration of Anatolian musical culture will take place on Monday, December 8th at 7.00pm in Cotsen Hall.

In this musical presentation entitled “Deep Songs from Anatolia featuring Zelişah and Mustafa”, Christopher King unfolds, through his unique methodology, the diversity of Anatolian melodies, rhythms, and musical language that is shared within the Greek, Turkish, and Armenian repertoires. He will be playing rare commercial 78s from the beginning of the 20th century to explore the historical roots of this music and its migration back and forth between Greece and Turkey. The presentation will be moderated by Andreas Zombanakis, Chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Gennadius Library, while musicians Zelişah Kızılkan (duduk, Anatolian kamancha, and tembûr) and Mustafa Altınkaya (bağlama) will perform traditional Anatolian music.

A special public presentation, a free-form dialogue, where all participants explore together the musical-historical theme of the evolution and adaptation of music from Anatolia. This is a rare opportunity for fans of traditional music and the culture of Anatolia to participate in such a musical celebration.

The event will be held in English and in Greek. Free admission.

About the speakers:

Christopher C. King is an American ethnomusicologist, writer, producer, and advocate of traditional music. In 2002 he won a Grammy Award in the Best Historical Album category. In 2018 he wrote a book about the traditional folk music of northwestern Greece, “Lament from Epirus” (published by W. W. Norton & Company), and in the same year it was translated into Greek by DOMA publications (Greek title: Ηπειρώτικο Μοιρολόι).

Zelişah Kızılkan was born in Istanbul to a Zaza Alevi family from Bingöl. She grew up listening to Alevi-Bektashi hymns and Zazaki songs from her grandfather and father, which guided her into music. She sings in Zazaki, Turkish, Kurdish, and Armenian, plays the duduk, Anatolian kamancha, and tembûr. In her solo project she brings the music collected from her grandfather, father, and local elders to life with the region’s unique musical language and style.

Mustafa Altınkaya is a bağlama player and music researcher from Kütahya. He grew up learning from his grandfather in the Alevi-Bektashi tradition and spent years collecting and recording the music of his region. He plays and sings in his own style, bringing the old melodies of Kütahya back to life on stage.

Together, Zelişah & Mustafa discover hidden melodies in Anatolia and bring them to life today. In their performances, they highlight male-female call-and-response songs using traditional instruments like duduk, divan saz, meydan saz, cymbals, and spoons, and their repertoire also includes long songs, bozlak, deyiş, nefes, methiye, and dance tunes.