Ozan Baysal and Melisa Yildirim | Traces of Anatolia

Traces of Anatolia

Concert for double-necked bağlama and kamancha, with Ozan Baysal and Melisa Yildirim.

Open to all and free of charge.

A collection will be taken for the relief efforts in Turkey and Syria.

About the Musicians

AHMET OZAN BAYSAL is a Turkish bağlama (saz) player, composer, and performer, specialising in şelpe - an Anatolian bağlama performance technique that dispenses with a plectrum. Having played the instrument from a very early age, much of his music is a synthesis of traditional bağlama şelpe performance practices and harmonic practices in tonal and jazz music.

Ozan has performed a special design double-necked bağlama (saz) throughout Europe, including at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in Marseille, Walden Festival in Brussels, EFG London Jazz Festival and Making Tracks International Music Exchange Programme in the UK, Nuoro Jazz Festival and Isole che Parlano Festival in Sardinia. He is also a dedicated and passionate researcher of şelpe technique. After completing his Ph.D. (2013-2020) at Istanbul Technical University, Centre for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM), Ozan is now a visiting scholar at SOAS, University of London, conducting his post-doctoral research.

MELISA YILDIRIM is an outstanding performer on the Turkish kamancha fiddle. She collaborates with professional artists from around the world, and composes new music based in traditional Anatolian music forms. Her styles and influences range from Sufi music to Anatolian folk, as well as Iranian genres and contemporary world music. She studied kamancha at the State Conservatory of Turkish Music in Istanbul, and graduated with first class honours.

She released her first percussion composition, 'Dreamer', in 2017, and won first prize for kamancha in the Teke Region Folk Instruments Competition in Turkey. In October 2019, she participated in a Making Tracks UK tour. In 2021, she opened for Aynur Doğan at the EFG London Jazz Festival with a solo kamancha performance. She gave another solo performance in the Wow|Women of the World Festival 2021 and collaborated with the Yazz Ahmed Quartet. In 2022, she joined the musical residency OneBeat 9 in the Atlantic Centre for the Arts in Florida.