March At Salon İKSV

IT’S MORE THAN JUST MUSIC: SALON İKSV IN MARCH

An indispensable venue offering new discoveries for those seeking alternative sounds in Istanbul since 2010, Salon İKSV is as vibrant as ever in March. The artists to take the stage at Salon include Agar Agar, Ásgeir, Anna RF, Wooden Shijps, Nekropsi and Peter Sandberg.

Birlikte Güzel: Agar Agar / Friday-Saturday, 28 February-1 March, 21.30-22.00

French electro-pop duo Agar Agar had its beginnings at the experimental art school Beaux-Art Paris where Clara Cappagli and Armand Bultheel studied. They met when Armand’s profound monologue during a philosophy of art class caught Clara’s attention. They achieved great success in 2016 with their first EP Cardan. This EP resembled the 80’s dark disco and was remarkably mature for a first professional recording. Every single in Cardan became a hit and was followed by their 2018 debut studio album The Dog and The Future. With the wind of the album’s popularity in their sails they appeared on stage at numerous major festivals including Zürich Openair, Art Rock, We Love Green, Reeperbahn, Into The Great Wide Open, Pop-Kultur Berlin and Dour, and at hype nightclubs around Europe. The name of the band comes from the texture agent agar agar that Armand feeds his ants, and has grown a fondness for its sound. According to their interview with VICE, The Sims is also one of their greatest sources of inspiration. As evident from their album cover, eggs are also important in their lives, both as a source of nutrition and as an object of inspiration. They see themselves as dogs rather than people, and instead of repeating a regular and established musical form and formula they always choose to experiment with that which is new. They will be performing at Salon İKSV stage on 28 February and 1 March.

Birlikte Güzel: Ásgeir / Saturday, 2 March, 22.30

Icelandic indie, electronic musician, Ásgeir turned the lists upside-down with an overnight success in Iceland with his 2012 debut. It’s estimated that almost ten percent of the Icelandic population owns the album, and he is one of the most listened names of European metropolises like London, Amsterdam. His 72-year-old poet father provides the majority of his lyrics. In 2013, with the help of Icelandic-based American singer-songwriter John Grant, who helped to translate his lyrics, released an English version of his debut. His King and Cross music video reached 6.5 million viewers with its audio-visual perfection. He is also renowned with his cover of Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel, one of the biggest hits of the music history, thanks to the The Graduate movie. If you like GusGus, you will like this electronic Bon Iver too. Ásgeir will be at Salon İKSV on 2 March.

Anna RF / Saturday, 9 March, 22.30

Electronic, ethnic and reggae band Anna RF was born in the Shaharut Desert in 2012. They have blended the melodies of the East and the West with oriental and modern instruments, analogue and digital sounds and created something much more than their unique style: a mutual feeling. They produce the most familiar and embracing sounds playing the rebab, clarinet, tambourine and guitar. They released their first album Music Walla in 2012. Their second album Mabruk Salam released in 2014 featured The Turbans, who visited Salon İKSV in 2018, and was followed by their third album Hasan is Loco in 2015. In 2016 in a meeting organised by YouTube, they met Pope Francis in the Vatican City and found the opportunity to talk with him about the unifying messages in their songs. In 2018 they released their latest album Flight Mode. Anna RF has won the hearts of their audience effortlessly with their songs Why, Weeping Eyes, Jump and Raining in the Desert and excited them so much that some fans have jumped into ice cold waters. After their sold-out concerts in 2016 and 2017, they are once again at Salon İKSV on 9 March to reunite with old fans and to meet and bond with the new.

Wooden Shijps / After: DJ Fitz / Saturday, 16 March, 22.30

A psychedelic dream team with Erik “Ripley” Johnson on vocals and guitars, Dusty Jermier on bass, Nash Whalen on keyboard and Omar Ahsanuddin on drums, Wooden Shijps began jamming in San Francisco before releasing their self-titled debut album in 2007. They collected their songs that revitalise 60’s psychedelic rock in five albums until today. Their music invites listeners on an endless road trip on the vast Californian roads surrounded by palm trees, while each song paints a unique landscape. The band members cite Velvet Underground, Neil Young and the 60’s psychedelic scene among their inspirations. Their fifth album V that came out last May after a five year hiatus is a summer vibe at its core, featuring songs that Ripley composed in the summer of 2017 as a peaceful and sometimes dreamy rebellion against the political pessimism and record-breaking heats in the air. Today, the team is divided between Portland and San Francisco, and have been touring Europe with an RV that they have rented from Berlin. One of their stops will be at Salon IKSV on 16 March.

Having played with Elijah Wood’s project, Wooden Wisdom, John Fitzgerald – aka DJ Fitz – is good at making crowds dance thanks to his wide repertoire ranging from Anatolian and African melodies to the Far East. Defining himself as, “If a Turkish disco diva, a Nigerian record producer, and a Brazilian cabaret dancer all got together circa 1976, Fitz would be playing their party,” he will be at Salon İKSV to play yours, too right after Wooden Shjips.

Jam Session: Nekropsi / Friday-Saturday, 22 March-23 March, 22.30-22:30

The progressive rock dream team from the Istanbul music scene Nekropsi, with the crew members Cem Ömeroğlu (guitar/vocals), Cevdet Erek (drums/vocals), Gökhan Goralı (guitar/vocals), and Kerem Tüzün (bass guitar/vocals) formed one of the leading band of progressive rock and experimental music in Turkey. They released their debut album Mi Kubbesi from Ada Müzik in 1996. At their concerts blessed by the spirits of mechanisation and improvisation, full of surprises, they have delivered performances that have astounded us with the command of their instruments. One of the best debut albums of our music scene, Mi Kubbesi was followed by the albums Sayı 2 in 2007 and 1998 in 2009. 2013 is recorded as the year Nekropsi became monthly, so to speak. Their album Aylık (Monthly) from which they shared a new song each month was released in 2013. After 5 years without Nekropsi, in 2018 they moved into the King suites of our playlists with their singles Sekizler and Ta Ta Du. They will be delivering a satisfaction guaranteed rare live performance with tickets selling at light speed, at Salon İKSV on 22 March and 23 March.

Piano Day: Peter Sandberg / Friday, 29 March 21:30

Sweden has magnificent and peaceful nature on one hand and complex and exhausting modern life on the other… Right in the middle is Swedish “multi-instrumentalist”, neoclassical composer and producer Peter Sandberg who draws his inspiration from these two elements. This being the case, the music he creates with his talented hands and an open mind is always genuine, nice and warm at times and as cool as a winter breeze at others. In any case, it is easing and mind-nurturing… He openly expresses himself in his music; his neoclassical music is sometimes founded on jazz and sometimes has electronic roots. The piano is the star; guitars, strings and synthesisers take turns as supporting actors. His albums Balm and Jane, Forever, and especially his songs Remove the Complexities and Balm have been played over 150 million times on Spotify. He has also made a name for himself in the advertisement industry for the tracks he produced for commercials of various global brands such as Netflix, Volvo and Tesla. Next in line is his new album ‘Motion’ due to be released this year, of which the first single with the same name and second single Deep has already been released. But before that is the Scandinavian music feast at Salon İKSV on 29 March.

Xir ‘XX’ Album Launch Concert / Before & After: Ozoyo DJ Set / Thursday, 14 March 21:30

MC, producer and rapper from Ankara who has been impressively productive in the local rap scene since 2003 Xir, has rap at the centre of his life since 2003. He is the MC and producer of numerous projects we can’t get enough of. Xir released his first album X in 2010. This album made a massive impression on the local underground rap scene and was followed by Kötü Alışkanlık released in 2011, Extra in 2012, X Tape in 2013 and İz Öncesi which is considered his first official album in 2015. By releasing an album almost every year since 2010, Xir has proven to be massively productive and just as keen and creative as his songs are. He has made successful collaborations with such names including Sansar Salvo, Rapozof, İstanbul Trip, Kadıköy Acil, No. 1, Asil, Şam and Heja. Expressing the challenges of daily life masterfully in his peak energy songs with powerful beats, Xir has given us brand new rap anthems including ‘Angela Merkel’, ‘Tsubasa’ and ‘X Değişmez’ with his new album XX released in late 2018. We shall be watching Xir’s energetic performance and listening to these anthems live on 14 March at Salon İKSV for the first concert of his album XX. A booming crew of rappers consisting of Ashoo, Heja, No. 1, Şam and Maestro will accompany Xir on the stage.

Tickets for Salon İKSV can be purchased from Biletix sales channels and the box office at İKSV (without service charge, every day, except for Sundays, between 10.00-18.00).

Members of Vodafone FreeZone gets one free ticket with each ticket purchased.

Garanti Jazz Green concerts, sponsored by Garanti Bank, meet the audience once again at the new season of Salon İKSV.

MasterCard supports Salon İKSV in the scope of its Priceless İstanbul programme.