Saadet Türköz

After the festive, swinging and
exuberant  opening concerts of the Mahotella
Queens and  Astrid Hadad, City of  Women
decided to close on  a more intimate
chord with a solo-concert of Saadet Türköz.
The Kazakh -Turkish vocalist will
perform from both her traditional, as well as from  her more experimental,  contemporary repertory. Her songs —with roots
in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbeijan and Uzbekistan —
recall scenes of ordinary life, speak of work, marriage and love. Saadet also
scores and improvises on her own poetry. Transforming tradition and memory
Saadet’s songs evoke pictures and atmospheres that transcend cultural
boundaries. As an exquisite improviser she has shared her impressive vocal
range and the tonal beauty of her voice with musicians such as bass player Joëlle Léandre, New
York’s downtown musician Elliot Sharp, cellist Martin
Schütz, Gianni Gebbia, Carl Rüdiger, and Werner Luedi.
Saadet was born as a
second generation Kazakhs immigrant in Turkey
and lives since the 1980s in Switzerland.
Due to political pressure her parents (together with some 3000 Kazakhs) fled from
East Turkestan. After years of fleeing and
provisional settlement in Pakistan,
they finally moved to Middle Anatolia in the 1950s, where the Turkish
government promised them citizenship.
“Being a child born of nomadic parents
leaves an indelible mark on the soul, just like a song stuck in your mind that
accompanies you wherever you are. For us music and songs are an essential part
of our lives, and are handed down among ourselves as the core of a collective
memory. A balm to our hearts, songs and poetry are the fundamentals of our
society, as they express the tragedy of life and exile ... and maintain a
bondage between us .... My repertoire, laced with Persian and Arab influences,
ranges from songs from Central Asia down to Anatolia.
Our music is a mosaic and we are the guardians thereof.”
But Saadet is no
conservative guardian of tradition. That what she remembers of the traditional
songs “makes up a point of departure, from which she has developed her own
preferences and starts again and again an unpredictable adventure.” (R.
Zehnder, Music Szene). Improvisation is an essential part of her work. And for
Saadet improvisation is like storytelling. In this sense it reaches an
authenticity that is more ‘pure’ than the traditional songs it was based upon.
“When improvising, I have the feeling of being myself and another person
simultaneously. Thus I reach another level of communication with myself and the
world around me.”

Selected discography: Saadet Türköz: Marmara Sea. Duos with Elliott Sharp, Burhan
Öçal, Joëlle Léandre, Martin Schütz. Intakt CD 061, 2000. Saadet Türköz: Kara
toprak. Solo-album, Amori, Lausanne,
1994.

organised by: Mesto žensk / City of Women
in cooperation with: KUD France Prešeren