Music from Turkey

This year the Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies, in collaboration with the A. Pedrollo Conservatory, Vicenza, has again organised its traditional course on the Ottoman-Turkish ney flute. The advanced level course will be taught by the renowned musician Kudsi Erguner, who will be assisted during the lessons by the ethnomusicologist Giovanni De Zorzi.

The ney is an instrument with a millenary history and over the centuries became the wind instrument used in ensembles performing classical Persian, Arab, Ottoman-Turkish and Central Asian music. At the same time it acquired a special value in the Sufi culture. From the 9th century on, in fact, the ney was one of the few instruments used in ceremonial Sufi gatherings known as samâ‘ (“listening” or “audition”).
Kudsi Erguner (b. 1952) is an heir to this spiritual and musical tradition. He comes from a celebrated centuries-old family of neyzen (ney players) going back to his grandfather Süleyman Erguner (1902-1953) and his father Ulvi Erguner (1924-1974), who was a famous soloist in his day and director of the Istanbul Radio Music Department. With over fi fty recording to his name, Kudsi Erguner has collaborated with major fi gures in various fi elds: music, theatre (Peter Brook), cinema (Martin Scorsese, Marco Ferreri) and dance (Carolyn Carlson and Maurice Béjart). Kudsi Erguner is now undisputedly the best known ney player in the world, together with his brother Süleyman (b.1957) and the now elderly but still active, Niyazi Sayin (b.1927).

Secretary’s office:
tel. +39 041 2710357 +39 041 5230555
e-mail musica.comparata@cini.it