A special event featuring poetry, music and dance centred on the life of the 13th century Persian poet Mevlana Celaddiin-i Rumi will be streamed globally later this week. The line-up for this special event are renowned Persian musicians Seyed Ali Jaberi and the Hamdel Ensemble, and British Turkish spiritual dancer Serap Yilmaz. The concert will be […]
“Curated by TRNC Consulate General in İstanbul” reads the bio for KKTCIstanbul, the arts and cultural Instagram account of the Istanbul Consulate for the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC). Running since the summer of 2020, KKTCIstanbul’s 132 posts to date are a visual feast of Turkish Cypriot life, past and present. A cursory glance […]
Led by Essex Arab funny girl Esther Manito as MC, and with performances from Palestinian hip hop star El Far3i (47Soul), Turkey’s Olcay Bayir, and Alia Al Zougbi, and with DJ Nooriyah spinning some tunes throughout, the evening promises to be an arts extravaganza of Middle Eastern-inspired music and storytelling. The setting is London’s Grand […]
Rock musician Hakan Tuna has returned with his third release, Esenkent Dansı, from his 2021 project ‘12 songs 12 stories’. Wholly instrumental, the track is inspired by his experience as a Londoner living in Istanbul. Hakan was born and raised in the British capital, growing up in a “typical London Victorian era house”, so the apartment […]
A new British comedy set in a pupil referral unit (‘PRU’) gets its first-ever airing on BBC iPlayer today. The show will make its terrestrial debut on BBC 1 on Friday night. The 18-minute premiere of PRU is essentially a pilot, but BBC bosses were so impressed with the show that it’s already been commissioned […]
Ironhand Records dig deep into their musical archives to present us with four outstanding tracks from Mustafa Kuş and his band İmece. These classic tracks are a fine, nostalgic blend of jazz, psychedelic funk and classic Anatolian rhythms. Turkish singer-songwriter Mustafa Kuş (top, far left) had originally gone to Germany to further his education. He […]
The Yunus Emre Institute in London’s annual Turkish Community Art Exhibition is now truly embedded in the British Turkish community’s social calendar. Now in its third year, the event is bigger than ever before, showcasing 88 art pieces from 51 artists, whittled down from “a great selection of over 140 artworks from over 70 artists.” […]
Rock musician Hakan Tuna returns with the second track of the year, Nazlanma Güzel Nazlanma, which in English means ‘Don’t Play Hard To Get Beautiful Don’t Play Hard To Get’ The song, first recorded by Konkurt in 1977, is part of Tuna’s ‘12 Songs 12 Stories’ project, where he pays homage to the UK band […]
The organisers of Taste of Anatolia are calling on filmmakers whose films were produced or co-produced in Turkey to contact them so they can be considered for this year’s film festival. Launched in 2018 by Cambridge-based film charity Balik Arts, Taste of Anatolia – Films From Turkey promotes independent films from Turkey. Over a weekend […]
If you’re looking for films beyond the obvious choices, this week-long movie fest packed with gems produced by upcoming directors and screened at some of the world’s best film festivals is guaranteed quality viewing. ‘Cut Short, Live Long’ (CSLL) is a new annual short film festival that will be making its digital debut simultaneously in London, […]
