Omar Faruk Tekbilek and His Ensemble

"His talent stood out even in childhood.” This cliché about the child prodigy is, in the case of the multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek, perhaps not such an exaggeration. At the age of eight, he was introduced to a wind instrument called the kaval, and thanks to his musical family, especially his uncle, who ran a musical instrument shop, his repertoire of musical instruments continued to expand. Although he was already regularly performing concerts by the age of twelve, it was still far from certain that he would embark on a musical career. For some years he was strongly attracted to clerical life and trained to be an imam. His spiritual dedication still defines his life and work, and through the language of music he is able to express messages of eternal truth. This is how he formed his first band, which brought together excellent musicians from across the conflict-ridden Middle East, regardless of origin, and his worldwide success with Brian Keane created a bridge between traditional Eastern music and a postmodern ambient sound. In April, on the occasion of the Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Season, he will pay his second visit to Müpa Budapest. He and his bandmates promise to bring to life a musical universe that spans continents and styles, centred around a fixed core of traditional Sufi music, folk sounds and Middle Eastern instrumental traditions.

vocals, ney, baglama, zurna - Omar Faruk Tekbilek
kanun - Bahadır Şener
piano, keyboards - Yannis Dimitriadis
arrangements, guitar - Federico Ferrandina
drums, percussion - Chris Wabich
percussion - Murat Tekbilek

music producer: Ofer Ziv
sound engineer: Christos Lambropoulos

This concert is taking place as part of the Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Season, in collaboration with the Yunus Emre Institute Budapest Turkish Cultural Centre.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest