Please note: AFTERNOON CONCERT
Advance tickets available via Eventbrite $15 or at the door for $20
LATIF BOLAT
A globally known and revered musician in the genre of Sufi music, Latif Bolat plays saz/ bağlama and sings devotionals by 13th Century mystic-poets Yunus Emre, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi and others, as well as Turkish folk music, rarely heard in these parts. As a scholar of Turkish music, musical and socio-political history, Latif Bolat educates, while deeply moving and entertaining his audience with his musicianship.
Latif Bolat is a native of the Turkish Mediterranean town of Mersin. After receiving his degree in folklore and music at Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey, he taught traditional music throughout the country. He then went on to manage Ankara People’s Theater, a musical theater company, which performed traditional musical plays. Bolat also received further degrees in Turkish History and Middle East Religion and Politics from Ankara University and an MBA from San Francisco State University.
Depending on the audience’s curiosity Bolat may elucidate new perspectives about Islam and Islamic mysticism (Sufism), 1000 years of Turkish Sufi practices: philosophy, music, poetry, dance and rituals, Turkish music genres, Turkish music theory and polyphonic choir/orchestra workshops, Turkish and Ottoman History from Central Asia to Anatolia.
A typical concert is preceded by an engaging lecture, story-telling session, then a concert peppered with poetry, more information and breath-taking slide images of Turkey. Whirlers and other dancers of joy and surrender are not uncommon, as Bolat’s music is deeply spiritual and unwaveringly authentic.