Resonating Roots: Loop & Tradition Nağme Yarkın & Damla Aydın — A Contemporary Musical Dialogue

Resonating Roots: Loop & Tradition
Nağme Yarkın & Damla Aydın — A Contemporary Musical Dialogue

Born of a friendship spanning nearly three decades and a shared artistic journey that began in Istanbul, Resonating Roots: Loop & Tradition brings together the Istanbul kemençe, cello, and voice in a dialogue between musical traditions and contemporary expression.

Nağme Yarkın and Damla Aydın weave their own compositions together with works from the Baroque period and selections from traditional Turkish music and the Ottoman court repertoire. At the heart of the project is an encounter between Baroque counterpoint and the melodic richness of makam music, explored through interwoven musical lines, improvisation, and a shared curiosity about sound.

Their polyphonic arrangements of traditional peşrevs—instrumental forms from the Ottoman classical tradition—offer a distinctive expression of this approach. Preserving the melodies’ character and microtonal nuances, the artists explore new relationships between independent musical lines, allowing different traditions to meet while retaining their individual identities.

Live looping is central to the performance. The cello’s acoustic sound is recorded and layered in real time, creating rhythmic patterns, harmonic foundations, and evolving textures. Every layer takes shape on stage, without pre-recorded backing tracks. Within this shifting soundscape, the kemençe and voice move freely, responding to the cello and opening space for spontaneous musical exchange.

Rooted in Istanbul and reaching across the musical worlds of Anatolia, the Mediterranean, and Baroque Europe, Resonating Roots treats musical heritage as a living source of inspiration. The artists’ long-standing friendship and shared musical memory give each performance its own character, shaped by improvisation and the energy of the moment.

Nağme Yarkın and Damla Aydın invite audiences into an intimate, evolving sonic world where musical roots find new forms of expression.

Nağme Yarkın: Istanbul kemençe, voice, compositions
Damla Aydın: cello, live looping, compositions