Workshop on Ottoman-Turkish ‘Ney’ flute with Kudsi Erguner

The ney is an instrument of milleniums past that has become the only wind instrument used in classical Persian, Arab and Turkish-Ottoman ensembles. Ever since the 9th century it has been among the rare musical instruments used in the Sufi ceremonial encounter know as the ‘samâ‘, in which one listens to music and poetry to achieve a special inner state, which can be defined as ecstasy or, more correctly, ‘instasi‘. From the 13th century on, it has had a particular musical and symbolic role within the Sufi brotherhood known as mevleviye or, in the West, as the ‘whirling dervishes’, which follows the example of the Sufi poet Mevlâna Jalâl-ud-Dîn Rumî (Balkh, 1207 – Konya, 1273), whose works are written in Persian.
Kudsi Erguner (1952) comes quite naturally to this spiritual and musical tradition. He is the son of a family of neyzen begun a century ago by his grandfather Süleyman Erguner (1902 – 1953) and carried on by his father Ulvi Erguner (1924 – 1974), famous soloist of his time and director of the Department of Traditional Music for Istanbul Radio. With more than fifty recordings to his name and through collaborative efforts in the fields of music, theatre (Peter Brook), film (Martin Scorsese, Marco Ferreri) and dance (Carolyn Carlson, Maurice Bejart), Kudsi Erguner is, alongside his brother Süleyman (1957) and Niyazi Sayin (1927), one the most famous neyzen in the world.

Venice, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
6 – 8 March 2008

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