Esra Dalfidan
Esra Dalfidan | |
---|---|
At North Sea Jazz Festival, July 11, 2008, Rotterdam | |
Background information | |
Born |
Solingen, Germany | 20 April 1975
Genres | Vocal jazz |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Years active | 2004–present |
Labels | Challenge |
Website |
fidan |
Esra Dalfidan is a Turkish-German jazz singer.
Career
Dalfidan was born in 1975 to Turkish parents and raised in the German industrial town of Solingen. After a brief career as a music therapist, and after 10 years of studying classical guitar, she became a professional musician. She was admitted to the Amsterdam Conservatory to study jazz singing and completed her master's degree in 2007. She lives in the Netherlands.
Her fondness for Turkish and Azeri traditional music gives her songs and compositions an oriental accent. Her compositions use irregular and changing tempos, 5/4, 7/4, and more. She sings words and scats. As her main influences and source of inspiration she mentions the Azeri singer and pianist Aziza Mustafa Zadeh and the Portuguese singer Maria João. Aziza developed a blend of jazz, modern, and Azeri traditional music called mugam jazz.
In 2008 she performed a series of concerts with the Tineke Postma Group, extending into the first half of 2009. She worked with an ensemble called Gandhi Bazaar led by Ned McGowan. This group brings together five musicians with backgrounds in jazz, classical, improvised, traditional Indian, Turkish, and Flamenco. Indian drummer B.C. Manjunath and Spanish percussionist Enric Montfort. The Gandhi Bazaar concert tour was commissioned by the Dutch Fund for the Performing Arts and some of the compositions have been created to bring to life texts by the Dutch-Iranian poet Nafiss Nia.
Her band is called Fidan, a Turkish word meaning 'twig' or 'branch', and includes Tobias Klein, bass clarinet, Franz von Chossy, piano, Sean Fasciani, double bass, Uli Genenger, drums and percussion.
Awards
- Jugend Musiziert, 1991
- Winner of the 7th Dutch Vocalists Concours, 2007
- Finalist Deloitte Jazz Award 2008
Discography
- Colors (Challenge, 2008)
- CounterPoint (Challenge, 2010)
References
- Radio broadcast of Fidan by Dutch VPRO’s Jazz@vpro, recorded 9 May 2008 during Jazz in Duketown, in De Toonzaal in Den Bosch. Broadcast on 23 May 2008. Part 1: Colors, Blue, Sen Gelmez Oldun, Straight Ahead, Endless, Bridges, Worthwhile, Gossip, Yalgizam. (Music starts at 4:00) Part 2: Yalgizam, Everlasting Asking
- Portrait of Esra in Solinger Tageblatt, 15 May 2008
- Radio interview with Esra Dalfidan on Dutch program "Kunststof", 11 December 2006
- Esra Dalfidan at the 10th Ankara International Jazz Festival, Turkish Daily News, 21 November 2006
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Esra Dalfidan. |