Kudsi Erguner Ottomania Sufi Jazz Project

Kudsi Erguner’s Ottomania is the first World Music project that integrates the classical music of the Ottoman Empire with Western jazz improvisations and rhythms. It documents the story of a remarkable musical encounter, and is a logical continuation of Erguner’s eventful life. Kudsi Erguner was born in Diyarbakir, Turkey in 1952, and has lived in Paris since 1975. On his way to preserving the inheritance of the Sufis, Kudsi Erguner had to battle against those who opposed him, and travel down unfamiliar paths. The flutist (he plays the Ney, a Turkish reed flute) is also active as musicologist, author, teacher and artistic adviser. He has worked as a musician and composer on various film scores (Martin Scorsese, with Peter Gabriel), theater pieces (Peter Brook), and ballet productions (Maurice Béjart, Carolyn Carlson). He has fused the most varied styles and epochs of occidental music with traditional Turkish music.