A Story of the City: Constantinople, Istanbul
Directed by Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol
featuring,
Schola Cantorum, Ensemble Trinitas, The New England Drum and Winds Mehterhane, DÜNYA İnce Saz Ensemble, DÜNYA Anadolu Folk Ensemble, DÜNYA Fasıl Ensemble and DÜNYA Arabesk Ensemble
The many layers of communal memory in this program proceed through Greek Orthodox music, secular Greek music, Crusader songs, music of the Ottoman ceremonial and military ensembles, Ottoman court music, Sufi ceremonial music, Turkish folk music, Sephardic Jewish songs, urban music of the Armenians and Turks, and finally contemporary urban popular music full of longing and protest. On its own, each piece may communicate celebration, love, devotion or military might, but taken together, the mood of melancholy is unmistakable, which by now has been permanently woven into the fabric of this thriving cosmopolitan city.
WISDOM AND TURKISH HUMOR: A Conversation with the Creators
Behind the Scenes Featurette from DÜNYA’s WISDOM AND TURKISH HUMOR: Karagöz, Nasreddin Hoca, Keloğlan DVD. The musical journey of this program moves from the traditional to the original, making its way, at the same time, from city to town to village.
Dünya Size Güller Bize/For You The World, For Us The Roses
DÜNYA ensemble featuring Brenna MacCrimmon
Robert Labaree, çeng, voice
Brenna MacCrimmon, voice
Cem Mutlu, voice
Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, saz, voice
DÜNYA ensemble at the Jewish Museum in Istanbul featuring Maftirim
Hadesh Kekedem
Text and possibly music by Haim Aboab (19th c.) Makam: Hicaz, Usul: Yürük Semai
Dillirga / Tillyrkotissa
MUSIC OF CYPRUS
DÜNYA ensemble, Live at Salamis Theatre, Famagusta, Cyprus
a non-profit, tax exempt educational organization located in Boston, Massachusetts. Its goal is to explore a cosmopolitan view of the world through the lens of a wide range of Turkish traditions, alone and in conversation with the musics of the formerly Ottoman peoples—Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Arabs, Kurds, mystics—as well as with western and other world traditions. The DÜNYA collective includes specialists in Ottoman music, early European music, Middle Eastern Christian and Jewish music, ethnomusicology, jazz, contemporary composition and popular music. In DÜNYA projects, research and translation combine with original composition, improvisation and musical experimentation to create lively presentations, recordings and publications aimed at engaging contemporary audiences. DÜNYA seeks to work with a wide range of cultural and religious organizations and relies on no particular political, governmental or religious affiliation or support of any kind.