Ahmet Aslan is a Kurdish-Zazaki musician. Aslan was born in Eastern Turkey, in the province of Dersim. In his youth, he was interested in painting, but also learnt to play the tembur (a Kurdish three-stringed long-necked lute). After studying in Istanbul, he moved to Germany. Once there, he began intensively to play the acoustic guitar. Some time later he decided to start a solo career as a Kurdish Folk musician with pop and jazz influences.

Ali Fuat Aydın is one of the representatives of bağlama especially having specialized in zeybek style. He was born in 1973 in Aydın. He graduated from the Middle East Technical University-Electrical Electronics Department in 1998. He worked under the umbrella of the Community of Turkish Folklore at the university. He contributed to the repertory of Traditional Turkish Music by his compilations from different regions but especially from Aydın-Muğla-İzmir (West and Southern West of Turkey). In the center of his compilation works is the “kaba zurna” culture of these regions. He has worked on some spesific fields such as notation, tuning, tuning fork, standardisation, and the instrument structure- which are the topics which has little consensus among musicians of Traditional Turkish Music. Besides, he also worked in Anatolian Greek Music and has interest in Rebetiko music.

In 1981, he was born in Iraq, and forced to migrate to Hakkari, Turkey with his family. He completed his primary, secondary and high school education in Hakkari. In 1998, he started to participate in various music events and compilation works under the name Lawje with Serhat Bostancı and Ali İmran Erin. In 2005, he started his Fundamental Sciences education in Dicle University State Conservatory in Diyarbakır. In 2008, he performed in Lawje’s first demo consisted of 5 songs and in their album Seige consisted of 13 songs as the vocalist. Between 2010 and 2017, he taught on Traditional Dengbêj Culture, Forms of Traditional Hakkari Music, Voice Training and Repertoire in Aram Tigran City Conservatory established by Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality. In the same years, in cooperation with Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, he staged Kurdish Hamlet and Mem û Zîn and performed in them. Since 1998, he continues to take part in compilation works with Serhat Bostancı and Ali İmran Erin whom he participated in music events and found Lawje.

Arslan Hazreti (Aler) was born in Tabriz, Iran in 1976. He started learning kamancha when he was 13 years old. Besides he took makam lessons from Cavit Murtezaoğlu. He had the chance to live in both Persian and Azeri culture, this led him to learn both cultures’ musical traditions and technics.

He participated in International Fajr Festival in which master musicians of stringed instruments competed when he was 18 years old. He joined with the instrument that he made himself and he won the first place.

He moved to Istanbul in 2004. He got acquaintance among the Turkish musicians within a short period of time and participated in some projects such as The Way It Is, Virtüözler ve Cavit Murtezaoğlu, Orrient Expressions, Tel ve Ten. Besides he worked with some prominent musicians such as Susan Deyhim, Aynur Doğan, Richard Horowitz, Yurdal Tokcan, Vamik Memmedaliyev, Yinon Muallem, Şirin Pancaroğlu, Feryal Öney.

Birol Topaloğlu was born in 1965 in Rize (A city in Black Sea Region of Turkey). He graduated from the Middle East Technical University- Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department and worked in this field for a while, and afterwards he focused on his works of music. He quit his job to play traditional Black Sea music. He began playing bağlama at the age of 10, but he started playing traditional Black Sea instruments like tulum and kemençe in the upcoming years. As well as playing, he contributed to the Black Sea music culture by his compilations. He played in eight different albums and participated in many festivals and concerts both in country and abroad. He continues his works in Arhavi. (A district in Black Sea region).

He was born in 1973 in Ankara. He graduated from Mining Engineering Department of the Middle East Technical University in 1995. He completed his master’s degree and doctorate program in the same department respectively in 1998 and 2003. He had the chance to enlarge his vision of music under the umbrella of the Community of Turkish Folklore at the university. Later, he completed master’s degree program in Başkent University Musicology Department in 2006 and doctorate program in Ankara University, Faculty of Theology –Turkish Religious Music Department in 2012. He is one of the representatives of bağlama as well as working on the topics such as jazz theory and history. He has albums that were published both in country and abroad. He is still working in Anatolian Music Cultures Assosication and Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory.

After collaborating in a wide number of musical projects as a guitarist, he started getting into traditional music. As a session musician he has recorded in more than forty different projects of various musical styles: early music (Capella de Ministrers, Aman Aman, Oc, Maria Laffitte...), folk (Sabir, Malagüero, Cendraires, Al Tall, El Cau del Llop...).

He abandoned little by little the guitar to focus mainly on Mediterranean double-string instruments and medieval music. With this type of instruments he has done works for advertising, documentaries, short films, poetry readings, puppet shows, street theatre, intensive courses...

He has done artistic productions for various bands and singer-songwriters. He has studied hurdy-gurdy through intensive courses with Pascal Lefeuvre, Maurizzio Martinotti and Nigel Eaton. North Indian music with Krishna Mohann Batt and Ajoy Chakrabakti, sitar with Sazed Ul Alam, rabab and music from Afghanistan with Daud Khan and Ustad Mohammed Rahim Khushnawaz, ud with Necati Çelik and Yurdal Tokcan, and saz with the Crete based Irish musician Ross Daly and the Turkish masters Erol Parlak and Mehmet Erenler. Nowadays he combines his activities with L´Ham de Foc with the early music band Capella de Ministrers, with whom he has performed all through Spain, Italy, France, Morocco, Egypt, Croatia, Portugal, and has recorded five albums: "Trobadors", "Llibre Vermell Montserrat", "Lamento di Tristano", "Misteri d'Elx" and "Cancionero de Palacio".

Erdem Şimşek is one of the young representatives of bağlama, which is the ever-present instrument of Anatolia. He was born in 1984 in Ankara. He began playing bağlama being influenced by his grandfather Aşık Süleyman Koçak. He graduated from METU Geological Engineering department in 2007. He completed his master’s degree program in Center for Advanced Studies in Music - MIAM in 2009. He is working on his doctorate program in Istanbul Technical University, Musicology and Music Theory Program. He took place in many solo and group work as well as his concerts with Bengi Bağlama Trio. He participated in many TV music programs in TRT. (Turkish State Television Channel.) He is still continuing his works on 4-string , 6-string bağlama and fretless bağlama.

Gülay Diri was born in 1968 in İbradı (which is a district in Antalya –Southern city of Turkey). She started singing traditional songs from very early ages. As a child of a shepherd family of Toros mountains, she was made to believe that she can be protected against the evil by singing. After getting married, she moved to Istanbul and carried out many interviews and concerts. She published two albums in 2010 titled “İbradı Türküleri” and in 2015 titled “Uzun Havalar.” She had the chance to present her ability to sing in a very authentic way in Portugal in a Fado Festival. She is continuing her works in Istanbul.

He was born in 1937 in Muğla (a city in Southern West of Turkey). He started playing mandolin at a very young age and learnt notation. He also began playing oud. But he gained virtuosity with violin to which he was glued. He passed the exam of the Radio of Istanbul in 1949 and began his radio career and moved to İstanbul. He had the opportunity to get familiar with the popular music community here as well. He met Münir Nurettin Selçuk and took courses from him. He had the chance to work with many prominent artists, one of whom was Zeki Müren. He composed many songs and some of them were sung by different musicians. Today he lives in Muğla.

Kemal Dinç was born in Istanbul in 1970. He moved to Germany after he finished the primary school. He started learning bağlama when he was 11 years old. He studied in High School of Music and conservatory in Germany. He lectured in Rotterdam Codarts Conservatory in Holland and in Köln University. His albums are Lir ve Ateş (2006) , Bağlama İçin Denemeler (2012), Geleneksel Yorumlar (2015) and Duo (2017).

Kourosh Ghazvineh was born in 1982 in Kermanshah in Iran. At a very young age he started learning the Persian santur with Nouzar Rezai. In 1997 he studied the classical Persian Kurdish Makam for Tanbur focusing on the repertoires of Ostad Taheri, Yar Veisi, Seyid Khalil, Seyid Amrolah Shah Ebrahimi, Ali Akbar Moradi.

He has participated in many different music groups as well as in several music festivals in Iran and abroad, in 2015 he participated in Houdetsi festival in Crete. For four years he has been a resident composer at the Kermanshah radio. Currently he is teaching music in Rasht.

Mehmet Günay Eser was born in 1992, in Mersin, Tarsus. Eser who graduated from Samsun Ondokuz Mayıs University Music Deparment in 2015, made some surveys on music in different regions of Anatolia, principally in Çukurova. He made presentations on the technics of bağlama in different universities.

Mehmet Günay who has an extensive interest in harmonics has many compositions including Üçtelli, bağlama, piano, violin, four violins and orchestra. He carried out workshops and gave concerts to the participants coming both from abroad and different cities of Turkey in 2017 Music Village of which he is the general art director. He is the general art director of Üçtelli Quartet with which he visited Jeonju and Seoul in Sout Korea and this quartet took Üçtelli to abroad for the first time.

He was born in Ankara. He studied primary school in his homeland Elazığ (an eastern city of Turkey) where he first met music through the keyboard that his father used to play. Then he started playing bağlama and got interested in Anatolian music culture. When he was studying university in Eskişehir, he practiced kopuz and fretless guitar and he met Erkan Oğur. After studying engineeering, he moved to Istanbul and took lessons from Erkan Oğur for three years. He also took lessons from Derya Türkan, Emin İgus and Ayşe Tütüncü regarding Turkish music and makam systems. In 2012, he started masters degree program in Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory. His first album “Siret” was released in 2013.

Osama Badawe is a Syrian oud player currently based in Istanbul. After picking up his instrument at the age of seven, Osama went on to apprentice with master oud players in Aleppo, Syria. A regular performer in the concert halls and opera houses of his home city, Osama was was a music tutor and undergraduate student before being forced out by the ongoing Syrian civil war. Osama has since resettled in Turkey where he continues to perform with numerous ensembles and hone his craft. Currently Osama is collaborating on research exploring methods for using music to aid displaced Syrian children.

Osman Kırca was born in 1956, in Antalya, Kaş, Çavdır Village. Thanks to his father who used to play Üçtelli, he met this instrument. Osman Kırca who started playing when he was 15 was inspired by the masters and had the chance to improve his playing while he was shepherding in the mountains. He adapted local throat technics of singing which are about to disappear to his instrument, which is an amazing art and requires mastery and great effort. Osman Kırca met Ramazan Güngör, had him make his instruments and was inspired by him. In 2017 Summer, he met participants from both abroad and Turkey and carried out workshops on Üçtelli. In September 2017, he was one of the group members who carried Üçtelli to abroad for the first time. With this group, he visited Jeonju and Seoul in the South Korea giving concerts. And he played in the album titled “Melodies with Üçtelli From Anatolia” published in September 2017. He maintains a modest way of life in his village.

Ozan Baysal, who is particularly specialized on Bağlama performance and Şelpe techniques, received his bachelor's degree from Selçuk University - Music Education Faculty in 2010 and graduated from Ethnomusicology master program of Istanbul Technical University - Music Department (Center for Advanced Studies in Music - MIAM) in 2013. He continues his Bağlama Performance Ph.D. education in the same center since 2013. He has begun to work as research assistant in Istanbul Technical University - Center for Advanced Studies in Music -MIAM since 2014. As Bağlama/Şelpe performer artist and lecturer; he has given many solo concerts and workshops at national and international stages, been invited to International Music Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in France, and gave academic presentations in various international conferences organized in abroad such as USA, France, Netherlands, and Italy.

Özgü Bulut has been working as an academic in Ondokuz Mayıs State Conservatory since 2014. He is giving lessons on “Games-Dance and Music” at the level of bachelor degree, “Body Percussion” at the level of masters degree and doctoral degree, and “Music and Dance” in the department of Early Childhood Education. He participates in festivals, workshops and conventions regarding his field.

George Psaltis was born and raised in Komotini, coming from a family background where both the Greek and the Turkish language were spoken. His love for traditional music was manifested very early, when at the age of 13 he became a member of several traditional dancing clubs as a dancer and three years later when he started teaching himself traditional violin. At the age of 19 he moved to Thessaloniki to study in the department of Electrical Engineers in Aristotle University and since then he has devoted himself to the violin and the study of traditional repertoire both from Greece and other neighbouring countries.

He has partnered with renowned representatives of the Eastern Mediterranean folklore and traditional music (such as Ross Daly, Göksel Baktagir, Yurdal Tokcan, Selim Sesler, Derya Türkan, Kudsi Ergüner, Talat Er, Haig Yazdjian, Bijan Semirani, Theodosii Spassov, Petros-Loukas Chalkias, Solonas Lekas, etc. ) in numerous concerts, musical events and folklore performances.

Born in 1977 in Chahar Mahal, Bakhtiari, Iran, Reza Samani began studying the tombak with his brother Behnam Samani at the age of eight and later became a student of D. Samani. By the age of twelve he picked up the sorna and later the neyanban and the daf. In 1999 he traveled to Germany to collaborate on a project with the Ensemble Samani, thus beginning his professional career and residency in Germany, where he has pursued the study of music and world percussion. Reza has performed concerts and participated in numerous festivals throughout Europe with the Zarbang Ensemble and the Ensemble Samani. He teaches tombak and daf in Cologne, along with workshops throughout Germany.

Salih Korkut Peker, who stepped into professional music life in 1998, influenced by many different kinds of music, such as blues, grunge, rebetiko, arabesque, etc. He loves to blend traditional and avant-garde playing styles in cümbüş, electric guitar, fretless guitar, çağlama and divane (both, new traditional Turkish instruments) in all these styles and to surprise the listeners.

At the age of eight, he started his strings adventure with mandolin, followed by cura, bağlama, divan sazı, kopuz, buzuki, banjo, cümbüş, tanbur, lavta and their smaller or bigger variants. He formed different bands such "Arşipel" (Mediterranean and Aegean music), "Istanbul Blues Company" (blues, sprituals, gospels and bluesy experiments), "Tuzlu Nehir" (blues, bluegrass, Turkish dance tunes and Irish music), "Kırıka" (rembetic rock)... He wrote songs, made albums, and played in numerous concerts. Some compilations and collections were found in his work. He made music journalism in "Roll" music magazine. His music appeared in many films, series, documentaries and theatre plays. Presently he is singing and playing divane in two new bands such “Duble Salih” (Turkish folk music from all regions) and “Çalgiya İzmir” (Ottoman influenced Balkan tunes).

Sami Hosseini was born in 1986 in Iran. He started playing daf when he was 11. He took lessons from masters of this instrument for 5 years. After he completed his education, he gave lessons in different places of Iran and joined many different musicians in their concerts.

He moved to İzmir, Turkey in 2012 and started giving daf lessons. He founded the group “Ahura Ritm Topluluğu” (Ahura Rhythym Community) in 2013 and in the same year he started studying at Ege University Instrument Making Department.

He gave many concerts with Ahura Ritm Topluluğu and carried out workshops in summer camps, composed music for theatre and short films. He published a book titled “Daf Method” for beginners which marked a first in Turkey in this field. He is still working on the second and the third levels of the book.

Selim Özyol was born in Söke, Aydın. (a city in the Aegean Region of Turkey). He participated in many seminars about zeybek dances both in country and abroad. He focused on the authentic features of this culture which he observed in the local regions and also have tried to create variations which are close to their traditional roots. He acted a role as “Demirci Mehmet Efe” in the demonstration prepared by Ekin Dance Community and titled “Üç Memed’in Dansı” in Ege University State Conservatory in the 29th İzmir Festival.

Sevana Tchakerian is a French-Armenian multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, musicologist, educator and concert manager who grew up in Paris listening and singing Armenian folk music, while studying piano and vocal art at the Conservatory. After completing her two Master's degrees in Musicology & Cultural Management (at the Sorbonne and Dauphine Universities), she moved to Armenia in 2015 to start Tsap-Tsapik, a preschool music education program for urban and rural kindergartens, while writing and publishing the first preschool music teachers book in Armenian language.

As an advocate for more gender equality in the music world, she is part of the Music Action Collective, a group of international professional musicians playing and composing for social justice.

Since 2012, she is the co-founder of the Collectif Medz Bazar, a multi-cultural band reinterpreting traditional music from the Middle-East, Anatolia and the Caucasus while composing original music tackling social issues and breaking political and cultural boundaries. As a musician, she maintains an active touring schedule in Europe, Armenia, Turkey, and North America.

Taxiarchis Georgoulis was born in Kalamata in 1993. Dealing with music began at the age of eight, with the bouzouki.

Some years later addressed the mainland lute under the guidance of Eliah Kappakou and later by Christos Zotos, playing at festivals and concerts throughout Greece.

He attended Byzantine music lessons with John Plemmenos, Later he participated in numerous seminars of Labyrinth Musical Workshop with Yurdal Tokcan, Erkan Ogur, Omer Erdogdular, Eugene Voulgaris, Papapetropoulos Pericles, Socrates Sinopoulos, Harris Lambrakis, Joseph Tawardos and Ross Daly.

Taxiarchis Georgoulis had the opportunity to work with great musicians like Derya Turkan, Goksel Baktagir, Yurdal Tokcan, Nadyalko Nedyalkov, Giorgos Psaltis, Ahmet Erdogdular, Omer Erdogdular, Zohar Fresco, Bijan Cemirani, Michael Kontaxakis, George Manolakis, Periklis Papapetropoulos, Nikos Andrikos, Vaggelis Karipis etc. and play with them in concerts and festivals in Greece, Turkey, Israel, Spain, India, France, Italy, Belgium, Qatar, etc.

Ulaş Özdemir was born in 1976 in Maraş. He graduated from Yıldız Teknik Uiversity-Art Design Faculty, Musicology and Ethnomusicology Department. , he completed master’s degree and doctorate program at the same university. He published three books related to Anatolian Music-Literature Culture and Tradition. Besides his academic Works, he participated in many concerts and festivals bpoth in country and abroad and composed music for films, TV series, and documentaries. He worked as Production Manager in Kalan Music (a prominent music production company) between the years 1997-2010. He is still working in Istanbul University State Conservatory.

Veka Aler has been a student for a long time in Voice Academy of Cavit Mürtezaoğlu, she has taken courses on technics of voice and breathing and also makam systems. She assisted Müretezaoğlu’s own method book “Voice Method” and she began giving lessons in this field.

Yusuf İhsan Bodur was born in 1959 in Fethiye. He engaged with Üçtelli and music thanks to his father and uncle who used to play bağlama and Üçtelli. He visited different regions of Anatolia as a teacher. After he started working in Fethiye, he met Ramazan Güngör, who is one of the most significant representatives of the three-string. Bodur had the chance to learn various hand and finger technics as well as repertory from the master Güngör. He joined in the Music Village in 2015 and 2017 carrying out workshops and giving concerts. He carried out workshops in 2016 with children from villages within the Project “A Musical Voyage: From Tradition to Global” and played in the album “Melodies with Üçtelli from Anatolia” which was published in September 2017.