Turkey’s Changemakers: Children of Anatolia with 12 Languages

Sabancı Foundation Turkey’s Changemakers Program is continuing in its sixth season to share the unique stories of extraordinary people who contribute to social development. The sixth Changemaker of the sixth season is “Different Melodies of the Same Land Choir” under the leadership of Ufuk Gökcan.

Different Melodies of the Same Land Choir is formed of students under the leadership of music teacher Ufuk Gökcan. A choir was established with 32 students from primary, secondary and high schools within the scope of the project. The students started singing songs in 12 languages, Turkish, Georgian, Circassian, Laz, Arabic, Armenian, Macedonian, Crimean Turkish, Albanian, Romanian, Zazaki and Azerbaijani. The 32 students, 20 of which are from eight different villages, memorized the songs in different languages and learned to pronounce the words correctly in four months. The concerts of the choir started in Samsun and continued in Istanbul.

Different Melodies of the Same Land Choir arose from the dreams of an idealist teacher while also revitalizing a socio-culturally underdeveloped district. The dreams of hundreds of students, who participated in the choir, have been changed and their horizons have been widened. The choir, which revealed Anatolia’s thousands of years of culture, created a big difference in the cultural development of children, as well as in the lives of their families…

Watch and share the videos of Turkey’s Changemakers at:

www.sabancivakfi.org
www.farkyaratanlar.org
www.facebook.com/sabanci.vakfi
www.twitter.com/SabanciVakfi
www.youtube.com/user/turkeychangemakers