SPECIAL CONCERT: Andrew Downing & Guc Basar Gulle, Thurs Oct 10

Thursday October 10, 2013, 8 pm, $20 (CD and concert), $10 (concert only). Andrew Downing’s ANAHTAR project, with Andrew Downing – cello, Güç Basar Gülle – ud, Peter Lutek – clarinet, Debashis Sinha – percussion. Anahtar is the Turkish word for ‘key’ and this project is like an unlocked doorway between East and West.
Award winning Canadian musician and composer Andrew Downing has, for the last few years, been spending time in Istanbul, Turkey – a city at the crossroads of Eastern and Western culture. In the Spring of 2013 he was there studying centuries-old Ottoman/Turkish ‘Makam’ music and collaborating with ud (Turkish lute) player Güç Basar Gülle (with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts). During his stay he happened to witness the ‘Gezi Park’ protests and events that will change Turkey forever. This life-altering event inspired a series of compositions about the great city of Istanbul and its great mosaic of cultures, beliefs and people. The music combines East, West, old and new, and is styled after Makam music but with some Western performance sensibilities and forms. Interspersed in the repertoire for the concert will be some traditional Turkish-Ottoman music. http://www.andrewdowning.com/
Andrew writes: “During the first week of the protests it was a tough time to be in Istanbul, and the intensity inspired me to write 7 new pieces over the course of a week, based on the Turkish-Ottoman structure, and all inspired by the city of Istanbul and places that I loved there, including a lot of the places embroiled in the protests. Guc and I decided to make a recording of the music with some other musicians in Istanbul. Included in the recording are two of Guc’s compositions as well.”