Hoca Nasreddin

Hoca Nasreddin: Serkan Şener (kaval) Nikolai Galen (voice) Robert Reigle (tenor saxophone)

We see ourselves as musical nomads, spurred on by a wanderlust which makes us restless in familiar fields. The same spirit which holds that musical conventions need to be challenged and reinvented - out of which a different kind of music might emerge, one unfettered by predictability yet rich in musicality, one which resonates in the now. Our emphasis is on improvising with timbre, with texture, with the complexity, colour and nature of sound itself. Making working with timbre as essential to a modern notion of musicality as rhythm, melody and harmony. And making spontaneous, un-notated and un-notable composition a way of composition in its own right. The band formed in 2008 after saxophonist Robert Reigle and singer Nikolai Galen's previous free-improvising band Transsonance went into hibernation following the decamping to Ankara of the band's other half. The first members were Robert, Nikolai, saxophonist Duru Tuna and guitarist Turgut Erçetin. Then Duru left to pursue other projects. Then cellist Kevin Davis joined. In 2009 we recorded an album 'Headful of Birds' as a quartet. Then Turgut left to study in America and Kevin returned to America to teach. Then kavul player Serkan Şener joined and we became a trio. In 2011/12 we recorded the band's second album. As well as the recordings, we have given various concerts in Istanbul, sometimes working with dancers and guest musicians, and led workshops at MIAM (Istanbul Technical University's music department) and Borusan Müzik Evi.

Nikolai Galen I’m a singer, actor, theatre director, occasional film-maker, writer, teacher and music organiser. As well as eight-or-so composed albums, I’ve recorded four albums of free-improvised music. My writings include the lyrics of my records, various works for theatre and lectures on voice. For some years, my main musical interest has been extended vocal techniques and free-improvisation. My roots lie in Euro- American popular music, avant-garde music and the traditional musics of the world. Part of the pleasure of moving to Turkey in 2003 has been immersing myself in a different musical culture. Recent soundworks include Wild Flowers of Anatolia, a comprovised album of songs about Turkey with Murat Ertel from Baba Zula and Gökçe Gürçay from Gevende under the name of Eis Ten Polin, an album of piano and voice improvisations with the French pianist Pierre-François Blanchard under the name of Sleeping Beauty, and a self-written radio sound-play, Hitler (rejoice for we are absolved), about Hitler and Anti-Semitism together with Dolf Planteijdt. I write about Turkish folk and world music for fRoots.

Assoc. Prof. Robert Reigle In 2002 I joined the faculty of the Centre for Advanced Music Research (MIAM), Istanbul Technical University. I conducted my primary ethnomusicological research in Serieng village, Papua New Guinea, over a period of three years. There, men modify the timbre of their voices to transform them from mere human voices into those of ancestor spirits. In 2005 I became interested in Kurdish dengbêj. Together with my colleagues, I organized two international conferences: the second New Guinea Ethnomusicology Conference, and the Istanbul Spectral Music Conference. I have collaborated with Iancu Dumitrescu and Ana-Maria Avram, and premiered works by them in Tokyo and Bucharest. As saxophonist and composer, my recordings have been reviewed in The Wire, Downbeat, and Cadence, among others. I founded improvisation ensembles in Istanbul, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and Lincoln. I have performed with the Cecil Taylor Workshop Ensembles, percussionist Gustavo Aguilar, soprano Keiko Hatanaka, and a number of dancers, poets, and visual artists. I gave the New York premiere of Giacinto Scelsi’s Tre Pezzi pour saxophone, and made the first recording of that work on tenor (rather than soprano) saxophone. I perform in Istanbul with the groups Hoca Nasreddin and Islak Köpek.

Serkan Şener I have received a PhD in Ethnomusicology at the Center for Advanced Musical Research (MIAM), and I am a research assistant at the Musicology Department of the Turkish Music State Conservatory, and a kaval player. I have participated in many concerts and music festivals as a kaval player. Alongside my training in the performance of traditional kaval music, I joined the MIAM Improvisation Ensemble in 2009. I started to explore notions of free improvisation and also tried to master and develop extended kaval techniques. I became a member of Hoca Nasreddin in 2011.
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