A London-based Turkish Cypriot theatre group created by renowned actor Osman Balıkçıoğlu is putting on a special variety show to raise money for a cancer charity in North Cyprus. Taking place at St Monica’s Hall in Palmers Green, Balıkçıoğlu Cabaret Theatre has teamed up with stand-up comedian Ümit Dandul for two back-to-back variety shows on […]
The Yunus Emre Institute is staging a free folk music concert at its central London venue this Friday. The special event includes narrator Aydın Mehmet Ali, who will explain the story behind each song, which will be performed by Zöhre Ülker (vocals, bağlama / long-necked lute), Ayşe Akgül (bender / frame drum) and Cahit Baylav (violin). Sarı Gelin […]
Şaban Kazim emerged the winner from last month’s competition for amateur stand-up comedians at the world famous Comedy Store in Leicester Square. The 31-year-old competed against 25 other acts to make it through to the final, where he beat five others to take the King Gong award. The southeast Londoner wasn’t on the original line-up […]
Three Turkish folk music legends take to the stage in London this Saturday to perform popular new and classic Turkish folk and Anatolian rock songs. Bülent Ortaçgil is a guitarist, composer and singer who first stared recording music in 1971. His career has led him to work with some of Turkey’s leading musical lights including […]
Young love, a sacred tree, a chalk circle that no one can cross, and Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel, watching over all. Mahmud and Yezida come from adjoining villages, but they may as well live in opposing worlds. He is Muslim, she is Yazidi – an ancient religion whose mystical beliefs are often confused with Satanism. […]
It’s been an incredible 12 months for Çiğdem Aslan. Described by the Guardian as, “one of the best British-based discoveries of the year”, she released her debut album Mortissa last October to critical acclaim in both the UK and in her native Turkey. Among her many achievements this past year was to be nominated in […]
The Mayor of London has lent his support to a new annual event for British Turks. Referring to his Turkish ancestry, Boris Johnson said he was “a proud descendant” and that “London Turkish Heritage Day will be a fantastic opportunity for all Londoners to marvel at the contributions that the Turkish-speaking communities have made to […]
Slight in frame but big in voice Çiğdem Aslan, is an enchanting addition to the musical world of rebetiko or ‘the Aegean Blues’. In her most recent London concert, Aslan transported audience members from the wooden pews of Islington’s 19th Century Gothic style Union Chapel to the cobbled side streets of Smyrna (Izmir), the […]
Massenet’s tragic masterpiece, based on Goethe’s Sorrows of the Young Werther, is a passionate and thrilling tale of forbidden love. A young poet, Werther, falls passionately in love with his beautiful muse, Charlotte. He learns that she has promised her dying mother to marry another man, Albert. When the melancholy poet Werther escorts Charlotteto a ball, he […]
A new Turkish festival planned to take place at Trafalgar Square this Saturday has been cancelled. The organisers of a Turkish Day in London made the announcement yesterday, stating that the “continuing tragedy of [the] mining accident at Soma. Turkey” meant they could not “justify celebrating at Turkish Day in London”. Over 280 miners […]
