Culture

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Help award-winning director Serkan Nihat bring his Rocket Girl to the silver screen

Serkan Nihat has worked on some of the UK's most successful TV dramas such as Broadchurch and Taboo. Since switching from editing to directing, he has also filmed commercials and short films for major beauty, fashion and corporate brands. In 2018 he won a Cannes Silver Dolphin award for a Barclays B...

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Festival date clash ‘disaster’ averted as row exposes rifts within Turkish Cypriot UK community

Competing plans to hold separate June festivals celebrating Turkish Cypriot culture on the same day in north London have been averted after one of the camps decided to postpone its event by a week. In a surprise move, the UK-based Council of Turkish Cypriot Associations (CTCA), an umbrella organisat...

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Mem Ferda: ‘to the Manor born’

With two degrees under his belt, former male model Mem Ferda could have secured a steady, well-paid job. Instead the South Londoner plumped for the life of an actor and all the risks that this brings. And he’s never looked back!The first thing that strikes you when you meet Mem is his height. At 6ft...

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See Gazel perform dreamy electronic pop at Birthdays this Friday

On Friday, Gazel is in North London to play new music from her upcoming album ‘Gazel’s Book of Souls’. The young singer-songwriter is fast carving out a name for herself with her blend of dreamy electronic folk-pop fused with ancient and philosophical influences. Gazel’s debut EP Bone Key garne...

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Preview: the inspiration behind singer-songwriter Gazel’s Books of Souls and what we can expect from her Borderline gig

Ever since I moved to London from Istanbul three years ago, I am always keen to check out Turkish origin musicians in London. I met Gazel about a year ago during one of her gigs at 93 Feet East. I didn’t know at the time that she had Turkish roots, but when I heard the melodies from Sarı Gelin I was...

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10 good reasons to help save the London Turkish Film Festival

  Last month, the long-running London Turkish Film Festival announced it was turning to crowd-funding to help keep it going. So far the campaign has raised just under £1,500. As we enter the last week of the fundraising campaign, we give our readers ten good reasons to support this important...

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Gavin Turk, Damien Hirst collaborate for ‘Turkish Tulips’ exhibition at The Bowes Museum

The iconic tulip gets an artistic makeover by British conceptual artist Gavin Turk and friends in a new international touring exhibition commissioned by the Van Loon Museum in Amsterdam. The Bowes Museum in the north of England is the current stop for Turkish Tulips, which features works by Tur...

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Michalis Kouloumis and Baha Yetkin present the Classical Music of Istanbul

  A concert not to be missed performed by two master musicians specialising in the finest traditions of Ottoman classical music. Highly acclaimed Cypriot violinist Michalis Kouloumis shares the stage with distinguished Turkish oud player Baha Yetkin. Together they present a selection of e...

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Lecture: Why did Piri Reis call Christopher Columbus a ‘munajjim’?

  For history lovers, and in particular those interesting in naval exploration, the latest in Yunus Emre Institute’s Arts and Culture lecture series is a fascinating look at two of the early modern world’s leading navigators. In his Book of Navigation (Kitāb-ı Baḥriye), Piri Reis, the fam...

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Review: XX “captures perfectly BaBa ZuLa’s sonic adventures of the past two decades”

  Deep within their unruly, freedom-loving psychedelic vibe, there is a particularness about BaBa ZuLa’s world that I love. Their front covers are always carefully considered and stunningly constructed. They are particular about their experimental sound, which never fits into any one genre b...

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