TURKOMANIA with Funda Müjde

Together with Funda Müjde, Turkish writer and cabaret artist, the Rubens Quartet presents a unique program that acts as a bridge between the East and the West through musical and literary genres.

Funda Müjde performs selected poems and proverbs of Yunus Emre and Nazim Hikmet and describes the tumultuous period and Western infatuation with Turkey that took place at the turn of the century.

During the same period, Ahmed Adnan Saygun was born, and his 1st string quartet marks the centerpiece of this

program. Saygun was an assistant to Bartók, leading him in 1936 through Anatolia on one of his many trips to collect folk music. The composers became instant friends and Saygun gained detailed insight into Bartók's work methods. In the four string quartets that Saygun wrote later in life, the influences of Bartok are clearly present. These, combined with the use of Turkish modes and Funda Müjde rhythmic patterns, give Saygun's quartets their characteristic flair.

Program: Ahmed Adnan Saygun: Quartet No. 1, Op. 27

Texts of Yunus Emre, Nazim Hikmet and Funda Müjde

This program can be combined with folk-music arrangements for string quartet by various composers (i.e. Tsintsadze, Komitas), or it is also possible to pair Saygun with a work from the standard classical repertoire. During the première of this program, which took place on October 27, 2009, we welcomed the Turkish violist Esra Pehlivanli in a performance of Mozart's Quintet, K. 593.

Funda Müjde is a versatile cabaret artist: alert, spontaneous, idiosyncratic and contemporary. She provocatively presents the political and social issues of today with, of course, the necessary doses of humor; in other words, all the properties that are simply indispensible for a cabaret artist. Funda Müjde is known by the greater public for her title role in the film Julia's Secret, and also through her roles on television series' such as “Vrouwenvleugel” and “Zeg 'ns Aaaa” and recently on “Hallo Holland”. She appears every Friday in her column for the Dutch newspaper “De Telegraaf”, and is also active with her self-produced theater performances. Funda Müjde's overall approach displays her gift for reaching the public on a personal level. 2009 marks her seventh year in the Netherlands, but she will never forget her Turkish culture and upbringing. The word Müjde means good news.

Bookings via Stichting Kamermuziek Nederland www.stichting-kamermuziek-nederland.nl
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