AŞIQ NARGILE

Once considered a pan-Caucasian musical tradition, today the music of aşıq bards is most closely associated with the music of Azerbaijan, though it can be still found in pockets throughout the Caucasus. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nargile Mehtiyeva has been playing saz (long-neck lute) and singing since the age of 15. Fluent in Azerbaijani, Georgian, and Russian, Nargile represents the cosmopolitanism of old Tbilisi. The city was once known as a meeting point for travelling multilingual bards who would travel through such urban centres as Gence, Kars, Yerevan, Shusha, and Derbend, serving as conduits for news, ideas, music and culture.

After studying under a number of respected ustad aşıqlar (master aşıqs) in Georgia, she moved to Baku in Azerbaijan to focus on her instrumental technique. Through the mastering of the saz and the practice of reciting and improvising epic folk poetry, known as dastans, she has taken the title of aşıq.



Nargile has performed at countless regional festivals in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, and has made a number of television appearances in those countries. A powerful solo performer, her singing is full of deep vocal expression and interspersed with bursts of lightning speed, highly ornamented saz. She is equally comfortable performing moving laments or rhythmic folk dance pieces. She is currently the only female aşıq living and performing in the ethnic Azeri region in Georgia, known as Borçalı, and has been teaching the art to new generations. Her first visit to the UK will include a performance at Tusk Festival in Newcastle and will be followed by a first international solo release in 2015.



MUSTAFA KILÇIK

Mustafa Kılçık hails from the town of Nurhak in the Kahramanmaraş province of Southern Turkey. Born into a musical family he entered music as a child later becoming part of an Alevi musical community which was led by the deeply respected figure of Dertli Divani. Entrenched in the traditions and practices of the Alevi belief, his solo music builds on the repertoire and poetry of Anatolian Alevi aşık bards. Having released several solo albums he has performed throughout Turkey and Internationally, often in collaboration with Uluş Özdemir. In 2008 he opened his own studio and music centre in İstanbul where he has been teaching bağlama and recording other artists.

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Presented in partnership with “The Sayat Nova Project”

photo: Onnik Krikorian