World Music Days start at Istanbul’s Akbank Sanat

ISTANBUL

Maarja Nuut

The Akbank Sanat World Music Days this year is set to host musicians from four regions across the world.

The first concert will be performed by Estonian violinist and vocal Maarja Nuut, who has been praised by the lead singer of Duran Duran, Simon Le Bon.

Nuut’s music combines traditional dance tunes, songs, and stories with live electronic music to create an intricate layered soundscape in a space where minimalism and experimental music meet the village musical traditions of pre-war Europe.

In her performance, she searches for a lively and relaxed state like a cat poised to leap. “This state gives rise to music and makes me want to prolong being in the moment while altering ways of seeing, hearing and perceiving. It is always now, and old tunes are as fresh as improvisations which were born a second ago,” she says.

In the spring of 2013, Nuut released her debut album “Soolo” that generated a small buzz in Europe, including many glowing reviews as well as favorable comparisons to Czech avant-garde violinist Iva Bittová.

Her second album, “Une meeles,” was released internationally on June 3, 2016.

On Dec. 13, Akbank Sanat will host the Andrei Racu Folk Quartet, which is made up of professional musicians playing traditional Romanian music. As their repertoire, the quartet chose traditional Romanian pieces and suites from all parts of Romania. Andrei Racu, the leader of the quartet, is a violinist with a great folkloric experience. He is an instrumental soloist in several cultural institutions in Romania.

He currently works as an instrumentalist at the folk music Orchestra Carpathian Wreath.

On Dec. 20, n’goni player Abou Diarra will take the stage at Akbank Sanat. Trained by a virtuoso blind master, Vieux Kanté, Diarra traveled for several months the roads from Abidjan to Bamako and Conakry on foot, with his instrument as sole companion. Going through the most remote villages of West Africa, as well as modern metropoles, he collected both traditional, hidden music as well as urban, contemporary sounds.

During his concerts, Diarra is accompanied by his band “Donko Band.”

The final concert will be given by Tânia Oleiro on Dec. 27. Born in Lisbon, Oleiro recorded her first album “Terços de Fado” last year. From the most respected Fado houses in Lisbon, where Tânia has always sung, she brings the enrichment of sharing experiences with various musicians, fado singers and authors.

This year she participated in two of the biggest music festivals in Portugal - Caixa Alfama Festival and Festa do Avante - and critics recognized her talent and the musical excellence of her concerts.