Projects

Sakina Teyna Septet

The music of the Sakîna Teyna Septet is centered around the rich tradition of Kurdish makams—modal systems that create distinct moods and emotions through their unique melodic structures. Drawing on the diverse musical and cultural backgrounds of its members, the ensemble brings these ancient traditions into a contemporary context.

The use of microtonal systems invites audiences to discover new sonic landscapes, blending Kurdish musical heritage with elements of Western classical music and contemporary jazz. At the heart of the repertoire are traditional Kurdish songs, interpreted by Sakina in the three Kurdish dialects Kurmanji, Zazaki, and Sorani.

The expressive fretless guitar of Mahan Mirarab, together with cello, viola, violin, double bass, and percussion, creates a powerful musical space in which the harmonic language of the Kurdish makams is expanded, reinterpreted, and enriched. Through carefully crafted combinations of melodies and tones, the ensemble gives new depth to emotions, stories, and themes. The result is a captivating interplay of delicate lyricism and dynamic intensity, where a wide palette of colors and moods comes together in a unique musical experience.

@ Victoria Nazarova

Sakina Teyna – Vocal
Mahan Mirarab – Guitar / Arrangements
Dalina Del Valle Ugarte Contreras – Violin
Nora Romanoff – Viola
Ivan Turkalj – Cello
Marko Ferlan – Double Bass
Amir Wahba – Percussion / Drums

@ Victoria Nazarova

TRIO MARA

Mara is Zazaki, which is one of the oldest native languages in the Middle East. It means BY US. TRIO MARA’s musical journey started seven years ago in 2011. Mara draws from the rich treasure of traditional Kurdish songs. They express them anew in their own particular way by contrasting classical and contemporary music. Presented in a way only women can sing them these songs turn into a great experience.

Mara do not stop at singing Kurdish language songs. With their own interpretations of songs in other middle-eastern languages, they make new soundscapes come alive.

Mara are convinced that the language of music expresses love of peace, a language that cannot be spoken too much. Mara want their music to overcome borders and have their audience participate in the music of a region that is considered the cradle of humanity.

https://www.facebook.com/trio.mara.project/

Line Up:

Sakina Teyna – Vocal
Naze Isxan – Piano
Nure Dlovani – Violin

Songs

Naze Isxan

Naze Isxan began to play piano at the age of six. The pianist graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Krasnodar as a concertmaster and music teacher. Since the end of the nineties, she has given concerts in Russia at first and since 2001 she also appears on a regular basis in other European countries.

She has a passion for Kurdish music that she would like to introduce to a wider non-Kurdish audience in her concerts. Therefore, she also arranged traditional Kurdish melodies for piano and published the first Kurdish music book for piano in 2004 (Evina Kurdistane – Bona Pianoforte).

Naze Isxan © Özgün Yarar

Nure Dilovani © Firat Tuncer

Nure Dlovani

Nure Dlovani is a solo violinist who also works as a teacher for violin and piano. She received her professional education at the conservatories in Moscow, Erevan, and Frankfurt.

Her repertory is rich and comprises classical music and pop as well as sound tracks or crossover performances with the New Philharmonics in Frankfurt. She also works with a variety of well-known Kurdish musicians both in the studio and as a solo violinist in live concerts.

@ Sascha Osaka

Sakina

Sakina is a Kurdish vocalist born in Varto, Turkey. Raised in a Kurdish Alevite family, she discovered her musical roots during her university years and became active in preserving Kurdish culture through music. After political persecution forced her into exile, she settled in Austria as a political refugee in 2006, where she resumed her artistic career.

She released her internationally distributed debut solo album ROYÊ MI with ARC Music and went on to found the all-female Trio Mara, whose acclaimed live album DERI / Behind the Doors brought international recognition. Since 2013, she has also performed with the Anadolu Quartett, releasing the live album KÖPRÜ / The Bridge, and established the Vienna-based ensemble Sakina & Friends, collaborating with musicians from across Europe and the Middle East.

Today, Sakina is an internationally recognized artist who performs at major festivals and concert halls across Europe and the United States, dedicated to preserving and reimagining Kurdish musical traditions through contemporary world music.

Sakîna & Friends

The Kurdish singer Sakina Teyna (Trio Mara, Anatolian Quartet etc.) embodies Anatolian music traditions as different blossoms of a common tree: with tenderness, compassion and eruptive dynamic, she empowers Turkish, Armenian, Persian and her own songs in all the Kurdish languages, modestly flowing with western harmonies laced with strains of Jazz and Latin.

In doing so she permeates layers of the soul unknown to occident nor orient. In her adopted home Vienna she has gathered together a choice band, each one a master and an aficionado in his subject: the Persian Jazz-Wizard Mahan Mirarab at guitars and setar, the Turkish violinist Efe Turumtay, the clarinet player Oscar Antoli and the always orient affine percussionist Jörg Mikula. From her roots as a political Kurdish activist, Sakina Teyna embodies Kurdish consciousness fitting in this age with her timeless chansons, which in the teeth of all obstacles and in a feminine, sophisticated and anti nationalistic way, rescues a common Anatolian past, restoring a human future. A future in which we can all participate!