kanun

Didem Basar

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About

Born in 1974 in Istanbul, Didem Basar studied kanun (a string instrument from the zither family) at the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory. After having been taught the kanun by Nevzat Sumer, she graduated in 1995 from a Bachelor's Degree in Composition at the Istanbul Technical University, where she had studied with Demirhan Altug and Yavuz Ozustun; then she graduated from a Master in musical analysis of Sufi Music in 1999 at the Marmara University.

During her studies she got passionate about the effects of music on society. As a soloist, she performs in concerts in Turkey and abroad. Didem Basar also taught the kanun at the Halic University Turkish Music Conservatory, harmonic analysis and music theory at the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory. She recorded many CDs and had performed both on radio and TV programs.

She joined several Oriental traditional music groups, including the Bezmara Ensemble in 2002 (specialized in Ottoman traditional music). She had also created a kanun quartet with three colleagues, that had been performing for three years in the context of several musical events.

In 2007, she moved to Montreal where she joined the Constantinople Ensemble, founded by the composer Kiya Tabassian and his brother Ziya Tabassian, then the Fenci's Ensemble, which repertoire is dedicated to sacred, classic and traditional Turkish music. In 2015, she performed under Kent Nagano's baton alongside the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in the world premiere Vers où l'oiseau migrera composed by Kiya Tabassian.