Kudsi Erguner plays to sold out Barbican audience

Renowned musician Kudsi Erguner and the Kamkars played to a sold out audience at the Barbican Centre last Saturday. Over 1,900 people attended the concert as part of the Centre’s Ramadan Nights Festival.

Kudsi Erguner performed with an international group that included jazz musicians as well as Turkish traditional musicians Derya Turkan on kemence and Hakan Gungor on kanun.

Two well known imans, Yunus Balcioglu and Halil Necipoglu flew to London especially for the concert after their duties during Kadir Gecesi in Istanbul. The music brought together Turkish Sufi music, jazz and Koranic recitation.

Kudsi Erguner, whose father and grandfather were both well known neyzan musicians, currently resides in Paris and has formed many collaborations with international musicians such as Peter Gabriel as well as being an expert in early Ottoman and Persian music. The many Kurdish Iranians in the audience enjoyed a colourful and dynamic performance of folk music by the

Kamkars, a group of brothers and sisters that are popular in Iran. After the concert Aida Nadeem, a contemporary Turkmen singer from Iraq, performed on the club stage. This is the fourth year of the Ramadan Nights Festival and the most successful so far.