GROUP

Arifa, Istanbul to Amsterdam

Line Up:
*Mehmet Polat(Turkey) Ud
*Alex Simu(Romania) Sax, Clarinet, live electronics
*Osama Abdulrasol(Irak) Kanun
*Sjahin During (Turkey & Netherlands) Afro Anatolian Percussion

ARIFA

"Arifa is a brand new ensemble from Amsterdam, founded by Mehmet Polat with musicians from Iraq, Netherlands, Romania, Turkey.
They play world-contemporarily composed and improvised music, combined with traditional Anatolian, Persian, Arabic, Balkan elements and live electronics"

www.myspace.com/listenarifa

Mehmet Polat
Ud player Mehmet Polat comes from Urfa, where is a great ancient city from Sumerian times, in Mesopotamia area of Turkey. After a huge Alewiten culture and Turkish traditional music experience from Istanbul and whole Turkey in general, he moved to Amsterdam and introduced his music at the most prestigious concert halls in Netherlands and Europe in general. Worked with Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Het Gelders Orcehestra, Theo Loevendie and many others. www.mehmetpolat.net

Alex Simu
Member of European Jazz Orchestra 2009, awarded with the EJO scholarship and nominated for the final round of EBU Jazz Competition 2009. Winner of Dutch Jazz Competition 2008 with the final in North Sea Jazz ( Rotterdam ) with Blazin Quartet, also with same band winning 1st prize of Utrecht Holland Casino 2008 Jazz Prize.
Active on the jazz and world music scene since 1999 he has been professionally playing and touring in 24 countries on 4 continents. www.alexsimu.com

Osama Abdulrasol
0sama is a composer, producer and Qanun & Guitar player. He was born in Babylon (Iraq) and he studied western music (classical guitar) in the UK and eastern music: kanun & guitar. He performed and toured all over the world with different groups like the De Filharmonie, Flemesh Radio orchestra, Goran Bregovic, Tom Robenson, BJ Scott, Olla vogalla, Mesopotamia, Weshm, Jahida Wehbe, Ghade Shbeir and many others. He participated in several Arab and international festivals including in Belgium, Holland, Germany, France, Portugal, Egypt,Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. www.osamamusic.be

Sjahin During

Sjahin is living permanently in the Netherlands as a musician, studied worldwide percussion from Cuba to India, from Turkey to Africa. Sjahin is founder and bandleader of various groups like Bayuba Cante, Turqumstances, Tarhana & Afro Anatolian Tales.

Sjahin did tours and concerts in Canada, Morocco, Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Cuba, Iceland, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Rajasthan India, Oman, Iran, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Bahrain, Dubai, Mexico and Holland.

Festivals & venues: North Sea Jazz festival, Big Bang drum festival, Percussion festival Havana-Cuba, Nuits de Afrique - Montreal, Vancouver Folk festival, Rhythms of the World - Toronto, Halifax Atlantic Jazz Festival, Tradition du monde - Quebec, London Sunfest, Istanbul Akbank Jazz Festival, Babylon, ODTU Ankar, Music Meeting festival, Paradiso, Bimhuis, Reiziger in Muziek- TV, Concertgebouw-Amsterdam, Rasa, Melkweg, de Doelen, Vredeburg, Heineken music hall.

Worked with: Arto Tunçboyaciyan, Miguel "Anga" Diaz, Naseer Shamma, Edmare Castaneda, Pancho Quinto, Hasan Esen, Engin Arslan, Ghalia Benali, Bart Fermie, Mola Sylla, Arnold Dooyeweerd, Slobodan Trkulja, Franz von Chossy, Behsat Uvez, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui(Les Ballets C. de la B.), Aike Dirkzwager, Rene Groothof, Aynur, Suren Asaduryan, the Gypsy's from Rajasthan, Pasha Karami & Theodosii Spassov.

www.sjahinduring.com

Contact & Bookings Arifa:
www.myspace.com/listenArifa

Mehmet Polat
info@mehmetpolat.net
+31 6 34 14 3121
Amsterdam/Netherlands.