We’ve done our best to compile events we’re aware of. If you think we’ve forgotten one or want to see your event featured, please send an e-mail (with English press info) to events@yabangee.com.
Yabangee’s Weekend Picks:
(Friday) Opening Party w/ Scratchy Sounds @ Arkaoda – “With his eclectic and unique style and selection, Scratchy is a true DJ legend. 40 Years Of Scratchy Sounds celebrated the glorious mix of electrifying music that Scratchy has brought together over the four decades since he began to make his mark on the decks of London’s club scene. Scratchy also toured with legendary names Iggy Pop, Blondie, The Cramps and Black Uhuru as the band’s opening DJ. He also released compilations under the name ‘Musical Shamanism’.”
(Saturday) Yabangee & Friends Spring Secret Terrace Social – “To mark the arrival of Spring and celebrate in classic Istanbul fashion, we’ll be gathering on Saturday 25 March for drinks, music and general merriment at a hidden terrace locale.”
(Saturday) Yabangee Joins Worldwide InstaMeet 15: Kindness – “Feel like joining us on March 25 for a bit of adventure in Istanbul? We’ll be charting new routes and taking photos along the way, all while documenting (and spreading) kindness in our beautiful city. Making friends and participating in an international event also sounds pretty good, right?”
(Friday/Saturday) Sónar Istanbul – “It’s an intimate and compact version of Sónar Barcelona, an international festival which gathers thousands of people from various countries. Sónar İstanbul will combine the general meaning of the festival with its multicultural, colorful, dynamic and living identity like it has never been experienced before.”
Friday:
Urban Rituals @ kargART – “The first night of the Sound Ports İstanbul festival begins with Urban Rituals. Two extraordinary Turkish Bands, Kam Ata & Yakaza ensemble will be on stage at Kargart. Designed their performances with the Mid – Asian / Turkic musical instruments , Kam Ata offers a Turkish – Asian rituelistic music combining with Dark Wave , Post Punk and ‘ throat Singing ‘”
Ayhan Sicimoğlu & Latin All Stars @ Babylon Bomonti – The much loved regulars return…
Ferit Odman Quintet @ Salon IKSV – “Started playing the drums at the age of 12. Received jazz education from the most prominent names in jazz in Sweden, Istanbul and New York. Recorded three albums with Terell Stafford, Vincent Herring, Brian Lynch, Anthony Wonsey and Peter Washington…”
Falafel Night @ Komşu Kafe Collective – “This Friday we expect you to visit our regular but still absolutely amazing Falafel and Hummus Night at Komşu Kafe. Have fun, regret nothing and never, never turn down a good plate of hummus or falafel. See you this Friday!”
Saturday:
Ambient Pool @ Bina – “Sound Ports Festival is excited to separate the second day in two ‘ambient’ projects. . . We will meet for two different concerts at Bant Mag’s new venue Havuz; Duo: Gölgesiz and TSU! Havuz will witness the first performance of Gölgesiz through the festival and the TSU!’ s ambient world.”
Country for Syria @ CreAtolye – “The band blends traditional Middle Eastern music with American Country music. The band’s earnings contribute aid to Syrian refugees and those affected by conflict around the world.”
Scratchy Sounds Midnight Session @ Babylon Bomonti – “”With his eclectic and unique style and selection, Scratchy is a true DJ legend. 40 Years Of Scratchy Sounds celebrated the glorious mix of electrifying music that Scratchy has brought together over the four decades…”
Kolektif Istanbul @ Salon IKSV – “Formed in 2006 and grew with more artists joining in periodically. Favourited by music followers in a short time with their debut album. Performed in many international festivals such as Montreux Jazz Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festivcal, Istanbul Jazz Festival and Fira Mediterrania…”
KelForBirthday w/ Cure-Shot, 7-Erhan and many more @ Glow
Jose Carreras: Final World Tour @ Ülker Arena – “Jose Carreras, one of the greatest tenors of all time, will perform at Ülker Arena for the first time in his The Final World Tour. Do not miss this jubilee concert that Jose Carreras will perform within his last world tour on 25th March 2017.”
Sunday:
Take Me Up The Bosphorus: Open Mic Stand-Up Show @ Kaset Kadıköy – “TMUTB is back at Kaset Kadikoy. So all those on the Asian side have no excuse not to come! Come and try your hand at STAND-UP Comedy! Sign up on the night!”
Turkish Music Concert “Osmanlı Mosaic” @ Pera Museum – “Pera Museum’s Turkish Music Concerts series continues with a program celebrating “Alâeddin Yavaşca”. Programmed by consultant Prof. Dr. Alâeddin Yavaşca and coordinated by Sinan Sipahi, the Turkish Music Concerts highlight great composers and their works, underlining the different periods of Turkish music from the historical, cultural, traditional, sociological, anthropological, philosophical, and literary aspects.”
Multi-Day Events
(Friday-Sunday) Pilates on Tour Istanbul – “Pilates on Tour comes back to Istanbul, Turkey to celebrate the talent and diversity of the Turkish Pilates community. Enjoy classes, workshops and intensive educational experiences with master instructors from the United States, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Italy.”
(Friday-Sunday) Chocolate Show Turkey – The name sells itself…
Ongoing:
The 2nd Yabangee Instagram Photo Competition: Relationships – “Last year marked our first-ever Instagram photo competition, focused on portraits. It was a blast and we really enjoyed looking through all the photos we received. As we step forward into Spring, we’re excited to go outdoors and snap some cool pictures to celebrate the nice weather. Thus, we thought it timely to kick off our 2nd Yabangee Instagram competition, this focusing on the theme of relationships.” // Ends Thursday 6 April
“Red is Red” @ Gallery Ilayda – “Özcan Uzkur will be exhibiting for the third time in the Ilayda gallery .The exhibition, entitled “Red is Red” takes us through the production process, makes us witness the movement towards the inner parts, the particles, depth and capillaries. Uzkur combines his “plastic” inquiries with his deep knowledge of material and his use of bright red colour, rich texture layers and unmeasurable space.” // Ends Saturday 8 April
Psolo Exhibition @ Various Locations – “In this exhibition, Tuna reads the differences between subjective and objective times, distances between memory/loss and consciousness through the collective. The installing of the exhibition in four different venues encourages the viewers to re-interpret the notions work/time/distance/memory, presenting a new space of experience outside of modes of traditional exhibition viewings. Psolo exhibition draws attention to not only the visual aspects of objects, but also to the relationship between sound, body, and the psyche.” // Ends Saturday 8 April
“Critical Distance” @ Ariel Sanat – “Animals survive in nature as long as they keep their distance with others. A study by Swiss Animal Biologist Heini Hediger shows that there are several types of distances in this regard: personal distance, social distance, flight distance and the ‘critical distance’, signifying the point where flight becomes impossible. It is the moment, when an animal needs to skip measuring the strength of the opponent and start a defense attack against the aggressor.” // Ends Saturday 15 April
“Ya Değilse? / If Not?” @ Sanatorium – “Ümit Kıvanç, who is rather known through his writings and documentaries with political and social content, meets the audience with an exhibition indicating the difficulty of penetrating the entirety of perception. Kıvanç, who has been a narrator in his visual and written creations until now, turns the tables in the exhibition If Not? Bringing together Kıvanç’s photographs – the likes of which we have not seen from him until today – that he took in the years 2013-2014 and worked on since then, the exhibition puts the audience in the position of the narrator.” // Ends Saturday 15 April
“And yet my mask is powerful” @ Alt Art Space – “Alt Art Space presents Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme’s most recent installation, And yet my mask is powerful, 2016, which addresses the relationship between mythology, ecology and the resistance to colonial time, imagining new possible incomplete narratives.” // Ends Sunday 16 April
“AUDinst019: Upload=Delphic Panaceas” @ Zorlu PSM – “Involving old and new work, the exhibition will be comprised of an intensely immersive closed space that uses Subpacs (which vibrate bass and infrasonic frequencies down the spinal column); headphones which will amplify the 20-minute narrative of the work; fog machines which obscure the artworks on the walls of the space; miracle fruit (which reverses the polarity of the taste buds – meaning that sour tastes sweet) and wood chips which provide a scent not usually associated with interior gallery spaces.” // Ends Thursday 20 April
Esoteric Illusions in the Wind of the Hammer @ Anna Laudel Contemporary – “Esoteric Illusions in the Wind of the Hammer marks the return of Mehmet Aksoy, following five years of seclusion, with his remarkable, unique aesthetic. This show can be regarded as a programme highlight for Anna Laudel Contemporary, which opened recently in the old finance district of the late Ottoman Empire in Karaköy, within a historic building comprising a vast exhibition space spanning five floors.” // Ends Thursday 20 April
“Maybe I’d like to be like you” @ artSümer – “Bahar Yürükoğlu’s first solo show at artSümer takes its title from a line in Chris Kraus’ 1997 novel I Love Dick. Yürükoğlu’s photographs in Maybe I’d like to be like you manifest a longing to better understand one’s self through our relationships with others and nature. In her new works, the artist’s rather impersonal and quasi-scientific engagement with natural landscapes develops into poignant reflections on the possibility of a democratic order amongst humans and the non-human…” // Ends Saturday 22 April
“Cold Front from the Balkans” @ Pera Museum – “The exhibition focuses on different generations of artists and art groups from the Balkan region. The exhibition avoids the usual unflattering political connotations the region’s name inevitably brings up but instead focuses on a natural phenomenon — the wind.” // Ends Sunday 7 May
“Wanderer on the Sea of Light” @ Pera Museum – “French artist Félix Ziem is one of the most original landscape painters of the 19th century. The exhibition Wanderer on the Sea of Light presents Ziem as an artist who left his mark on 19th century painting and who is mostly known for his paintings of Istanbul and Venice, where the city and the sea are intertwined.” // Ends Sunday 7 May
Looking for more events happening in Istanbul? Keep up with our What’s On section.
