Culture

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Chart-topping Turkish rapper Motive live at London’s Village Underground in September

Rapper Motive’s latest album Romantik was the most listened to album in Turkiye in 2023, topping the Spotify charts for weeks, as well as winning heaps more accolades. His concerts were among the most talked about events of last year.This innovative artist is now set to showcase his talents in Londo...

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Actor Tamer Hassan to show off his culinary skills in Celebrity MasterChef 2024

Celebrity MasterChef is back on iPlayer and BBC One with a dazzling line-up of stars from the worlds of screen and stage, sport and arts. Among the 20 celebs hoping to impress the judges with their culinary skills is actor and all round good geezer Tamer Hassan.The boy from New Cross, who started li...

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A special night with Kurdish singer Mem Ararat – live at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Mem Ararat is a voice that resonates deeply with Kurdish people the world over. Since his acclaimed debut album Quling Ewr û Baran (Crane, Cloud, and Rain) a decade ago, the singer from Mardin, southeast Turkiye, has captivated the hearts and souls of local and international audiences with his...

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Popstar Can Bonomo to bring his blend of “Istanbul music” to Islington Assembly Hall

Can Bonomo describes himself as “musician, poet, dad” in that order on his website. Add to that his work as songwriter, broadcaster, actor and illustrator, and you get a better sense of his incredible creative talents.The alt-pop singer says his wide-ranging cultural influences include writers Nazım...

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Competition: win a pair of tickets to see About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne) at a Picturehouse Cinema

The award-winning Turkish film About Dry Grasses / Kuru Otlar Üstüne comes to cinemas across Britain and Ireland this Friday, 26 July.Shot in Erzurum and Adıyaman, the movie centres on a schoolteacher, Samet, who is accused of inappropriate behaviour towards Sevim, one of his pupils in a school in a...

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A talk about Turkish trailblazer Halide Edib’s views of ‘The English as Occupier and Host’

Halide Edib (1884-1964) is one of those figures whose life runs through the end of the Ottoman Empire to the first years of the Turkish republic.She was a writer, warrior and politician who fell out with Atatürk and spent the years 1925-1936 in exile abroad, mostly in England.Halide Edib’s father wa...

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UK and Ireland cinema release for Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s award-winning film About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne)

Grabbing attention with his very first film, Koza [Cocoon] – which became the first Turkish short movie to screen at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995,  Nuri Bilge Ceylan has firmly established himself as one of the world’s finest film directors, producing cinematic epics such as Winter Sleep, T...

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Join Elif Shafak for an evening in Oxford talking about her new book 'There are Rivers in the Sky'

Later this year, Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre will be hosting bestselling author Elif Shark (Şafak in Turkish), who will be discussing her new novel 'There are Rivers in the Sky', which is due out in August.The book is a rich, sweeping novel set between the 19th century and modern times, about love a...

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Fun and art at this London queer meet-up for Turks, Kurds, Persians and Arabs in July

The Swana Queer Network are hosting their third Queer (LGBTQ+) social event for people from the Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) regions, their partners and others from the SWANA diaspora.This social event is an opportunity to meet new people, make friends, connect and, most importantly, ha...

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Turkish rock band Yüksek Sadakat to play dates in London and Dublin this July

British and Irish fans of Turkish rock will get the chance to see Yüksek Sadakat later this month. The band will be playing exclusive dates at the 229 Club in London on 26 July, followed by The Button Factory in Dublin two days later.The band, first formed back in 1997 by Kutlu Özmakinacı, a former...

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