Masters of Anatolia: Ayfer Vardar & Feryal Öney

Troubadour women Feryal Öney and Ayfer Vardar from Turkey have joined forces and are putting traditional Turkish repertoire in a modern format. Coming November, they will come to the Netherlands with the project "Female Troubadours" as part of the new season of series "Masters of Anatolia. Ayfer Vardar represents the youngest generation of traditional Turkish stars, Feryal Öney is just half a generation ahead of them, and together they cover a wide audience through all generations. 

The creators didn't just go back to the heyday of Ottoman culture for inspiration. Women then, both in the highest circles and in the smallest villages, regularly made music with each other, music for weddings and parties. But even then, none of this was new.  In ancient times, as we can see on vases found in Turkey, women were already heavily involved in musical life, and the influences still seep into the music of Anatolia after thousands of years. But Feryal Öney and Ayfer Vardar also incorporate more modern influences into their music.  

In their younger years, they listened to their parents' records and cassettes at home with Aşık Mahsuni Şerif, Aşık Davud Sulari, Neşet Ertaş, Aşık Gülabi and Aşık Veysel.All men, but they then also threw themselves at female heroines like Sakine Bacı, Fatma Kamile, Seher Abdal, Güzide Ana, Şah Turna, while also citing the feminist pioneering work of Sezen Aksu as an example. Thus, one can hardly imagine a better proof of the vitality and diversity to this day of Anatolian music.