Derya Yildirim & Grup Şi̇mşek

Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek at Bal Chavaux

Derya Yıldırım sings « Hop Bico  », an old Anatolian folk standard that her grandmother already performed in her own way. Derya offers her own reinterpretation of it, carried by a psychedelic slowness and her bewitching voice. For her, playing a traditional song means bringing something new to it: « otherwise, we might as well just listen to the original record again.  »

Born in Hamburg to Turkish parents, she grew up between her family's Anatolian heritage and the cultural diversity of the city. Trained in traditional music from childhood, she learned the bağlama, then the guitar, piano and saxophone. Although a multi-instrumentalist, she remains deeply attached to the sound of the bağlama, which she describes as « very magical  ». With Yarın Yoksa (Without Tomorrow), the forthcoming album by Grup Şimşek, Derya continues her commitment to revitalising Anatolian folk music by infusing it with contemporary psychedelic energy.