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Photo: Thor Brødreskift

Bergen Assembly invites for a night at Bar Belgin – music by Tolga Balci and wines by Mousey Wine poured by Niklas Kleppe!

Tolga will be playing a set called Arabesk me.

Arabesk me is dedicated to the Turkish singer Belgin Sarılmışer (1958-1989) better known as Bergen, the queen of Arabesk music*. During her career, Bergen performed her life – a sequence of tragedies and violence. Her music is at the center of this evening. Mixes, edits and mashups that use material from Arabesk and related genres make for an explosive mix of melancholy and rhythm.

*Arabesk is a musical genre that refers to a certain kind of popular music created in Turkey between the 1960s and -90s. It is named after influences of Arabic music, which was mainly synthesised with Anatolian folk and Ottoman classical music. The lyrics of Arabesk music describe agony as a fate. They are filled with melancholy, grief and a level of self-pity that fetishises sorrow. The audience of this genre developed parallel to an increased migration from the periphery to the big cities. Despite the popularity of Arabesk music among the working class, it was both criticised by the government’s cultural politics as well as by the left. The government considered it degenerated and banned it from public radio and television. The left criticised it because of its a-political character and limited artistic agenda. Nevertheless Arabesk music has become a well accepted musical genre and cultural form.