Digital Bridges

“Turkish Week” had a special place between the regular activities for Pecs, as a European Capital of Culture. Baba Zula, Replikas, Selim Sesler and the Turkish Movies event were some of the main activities. The most interesting event was the Arasinda ensemble concert. Their special combination of Turkish folk music and ethno-jazz melodies was unforgettable for the viewers.

The Arasinda ensemble was established in 1998 in Budapest. The members are Hungarian, but the special part is when they start singing in Turkish.

The founder is Peter Nyitrai . He plays `saz` and `baglama`, traditional Turkish instruments. They were singing Hungarian folk songs before, but they decided to switch to the more challenging Turkish folk.

“It is not extremely hard to sing and play some Turkish songs, because what we play has a very strong connection with the Balkans area. The Hungarian public likes our songs, you can see that at the concerts.”, Peter says.

The Arasinda ensemble has some very famous Turkish songs in their repertoire like: Pinarbasi Burma Burma, Ciftetelli, Uzun Ince Bir Yoldayim.

They are slightly famous in Hungary but they say that there are not that many events nowadays. “It is very hard to survive without albums or without concerts. We all have a daily job. For example, I am a teacher from September to June, but when the schools ends we start playing again in Arasinda.”

Peter came to Turkey three times and he can speak Turkish very well, even though they didn’t had a concert in Turkey until now. “We had some invitations but it didn’t end up that well for us. I hope we will come soon.”

The explanation for their name is that they work like a facilitator. ”We know what Arasinda means. It means `in between`, and that is how we are- between the Hungarian and Turkish culture.”

You can follow them on their site (www.arasinda.hu) and if you like the Turkish folk with a Hungarian twist, don’t hesitate to tell them that (info@arasinda.hu).

Video: Arasinda

Sinan Kut, Anissa Herrou, Claudiu Degan