Saadet Türköz

VOICE, TEXT, PERFORMANCE, COMPOSITION

*1961, vocalist, improviser, singer, performer, lyricist. Born and raised in Istanbul as the daughter of Kazakh parents from the Sinkiang province of East Turkestan, which was annexed by China, she has lived in Switzerland for many years.

Her music is characterised by her origins and combines them with contemporary influences. You could call it “folk-imagine” – in a new guise! It is not even her conscious desire to cultivate a particular style. Rather, she lets thoughts and feelings flow into her singing – she touches the invisible, idolises the earthly, mourns losses, hopes for spring flowers… Music no longer has the “usual” meaning for her, she seeks in it the challenge and the unknown – also the peace and beauty of the sounds. She prefers to make music freely, relying on the moments to form musical and mental motifs.

Her musical partners come from the most diverse areas such as jazz, free jazz, classical music, new music, noise rock, folk music and free improvisation.

Saadet performs both as a soloist and as a member of the bands and ensembles Urumchi (Fredy Studer, Alfred Zimmerlin, Hans Hassler), Cush (Paul Lovens, Uwe Oberg), BLT (Franzt Loriot, Fridolin Blumer), Zarya-tay (Zlatko Kaucic, Giovanni Maier) and with her own project Songdreaming. She also performs regularly with duo partners such as Nils Wogram, Martin Schütz, Hans Hassler, Hans Koch, Lucien Dubuis, Thomas Rohrer and many others.

Saadet Türköz has been involved in musical projects with Bobby McFerrin, Butch Morris, Arnaldo Antunes, Fritz Hauser and the independent Berlin music theatre Novoflot. She has also worked with the video artists Pipilotti Rist and Anka Schmid. She also has experience in film music and dance productions (Elpida Orfanidau, Mustafa Kaplan/ Filiz Sizanli, Chris Leuenberger, Diya Naidu).

She has performed with musicians from all over the world: With Elliott Sharp, Eyvind Kang, Yagi Michiyo, Anil Eraslan, Gyda Valtysdottir, Okkyung Lee, Kylie Sheperd, Shahzad Ismaily, Sevket Akinci, Okay Temiz, Mezan Kerbaj, Enver Izmailov, William Parker, Wilbert de Joode, Conny Bauer, Joëlle Léandre, Xu Feng Sha, Francesco Cusa, Michelle Agnes, Sharif Sehnaoui, Kylie Shepard – to name but a few – in Japan, China, Mexico, Russia, Iceland, England, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, Poland, USA, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Brazil, Norway, South Africa, India, Lebanon, Egypt and Canada.