Turkish Tunes-2, an event organized to increase public awareness of contemporary and traditional Turkish art and culture will be taking place Apr.11. The Turkish Canadian Society (TCS) is planning the event, featuring among others: the TCS Folk Dance Group, the TCS Vancouver Turkish Choir and the DJ Duo Burinata. Turkish Tunes-2 will take place at the Scottish Cultural Centre.
“The upcoming event is going to be an opportunity to immerse yourselves in this warm, vibrant cultural potpourri – which is a product of Anatolia: the cradle of civilizations!” says Demet Edeer, member of the TCS Vancouver Turkish Choir and Turkish Tunes-2 event coordinator.
A Warm and Vibrant Cultural Potpourri
The Turkish community is a product of different influences resulting in one multicultural civilization. There is a combination of approximately twenty ethnic groups such as the Arabic, the Greek or the Kurdish.
“Created in 1963, the Turkish Canadian Society aims to have a resourceful, compassionate, caring, vibrant community that embraces, nourishes and supports everyone,” says Adem Aygun, TCS president and member of the Vancouver Turkish Folk Dances and Arts Group.
The elektrOriental grooves mixed with the tribal beats of DJ Duo Burinata (formed in 2009) are a fusing of minimal and techno sounds, with wailing horns and fast and furious folk beats. Their music is inspired by the gypsy and Balkan music; and the duo breaks down geographical barriers with enthusiasm. Their goal for the Turkish Tunes-2 event is to turn the dance-floor upside down.
Turkish Tunes-2 is also an opportunity for the youngest talents to showcase for the first time.
The current members of the TCS Turkish Choir. | Photo courtesy of Turkish Canadian Society
Sharing the Love for Music and Dance
The Vancouver Turkish Choir brings together singers and musicians who enjoy Turkish music. The TCS Turkish Choir was first founded in the 1960s. In 2008, the musicians of Musiki Parea and the TCS Turkish Choir combined their love for the music.
Since then the group has performed at numerous private and public events, including multicultural festivals such as Eurofest and the New Westminster Royal City Multicultural Festival.
“We are intergenerational. We have different backgrounds. We are full-time workers or students; and we are getting together for the hobby that we are passionate about,” says Edeer.
This is the only Turkish choir in Vancouver and they are always looking for new singers and musicians to join them. The choir performs Turkish classical music and also Turkish folk music, mostly known as ‘turku’.
Edeer and Aygun remember a story illustrating how sharing the love for music can overcome any political conflict. In 2010 the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir invited the Vancouver Turkish Choir to be their guests at the folk choir’s annual concert. They rehearsed together at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. Two weeks before the performance, upon learning about a conflict between Israel and Turkey they sat down to discuss how they would proceed, recalls Edeer. After internal deliberation the Turkish choir decided to carry on and testify their desire to find common ground in music and song by working together at building a cultural and political bridge overcoming conflicts and hatreds.
Turkish Tunes-2 will also feature the Vancouver Turkish Folk Dances and Arts Group which has been founded on behalf of the Turkish Canadian Society.
“Our goals and objectives are to share, promote and teach Turkish Folk Dances, music and Cultures within our community, other ethnic/cultural communities of fellow Canadians to contribute Canada’s multicultural mosaic,” says Aygun.
It has been six years since the last Turkish Tunes. The Turkish Tunes 2 event aims to show the richness of the combined diversities which makes the Turkish culture so valuable and important.
The event promises more than six hours of Turkish dancing and music starting at 6 p.m onwards.
For more information visit: http://turkishcanadiansociety.org
Turkish Tunes event at the Scottish Cultural Centre, on April 11, 2015, 8886 Hudson Street – Vancouver, B.C.
