Yurdal Tokcan & Levent Yıldırım – double concert

Yurdal Tokcan is universally recognized as the foremost oud player in the world today. His command of the instrument on a technical level puts him in a class entirely of his own, but more importantly, his fluid and highly emotive improvisations (taksims), as well as his profoundly sensitive renderings of the complex and intricate compositions of the Turkish classical tradition reveal him to be a musician of great depth and subtlety.

He is also an excellent composer in his own right as well as a highly innovative arranger. His music reflects the rare and extremely delicate and difficult balance between remaining true to a very rich and strict tradition, and allowing his personal creativity and imagination a free reign without dogmatic constrictions.

Levent Yıldırım is considered one of the modern pioneers of Middle Eastern percussion. Levent and his older brother Ahmet Misirli are the starters of a musical revolution that opened a new path for future generations of percussionists : they have brought a lesser-known instrument – the Egyptian doholla – into the limelight, and elevated it to the ranks of instruments able to claim a virtuosic solo repertoire.

The result is an infinite variety of sounds coming one after another in total spontaneity. Humility, fluidity and sincerity characterize the music of Levent, mostly improvised, which boldly synthesizes the artist’s various influences from the Arab, Turkish, Indian and Western worlds. His third album, Doholla Tarang, invites you to immerse yourself in the intimate charm of Levent Yıldırım.