Kubat
Encyclopedia
Alevi
The Alevi are a religious and cultural community, primarily in Turkey, constituting probably more than 15 million people....
Turkish folk singer
Turkish folk music
Turkish folk music combines the distinct cultural values of all civilisations that have lived in Anatolia and the Ottoman territories in Europe and Asia...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
distinguished with his particular style and his applied use of electronic instruments in his songs.
Early life
Kubat was born in Antwerp in 1974 to an family of TurkishTurkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
Alevi immigrants to Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
from Emirdağ
Emirdag
Emirdağ is a town and district of Afyonkarahisar Province in Turkey, between the city of Afyon and Eskişehir. It covers an area of 2,009 km², and the population is 42,111 of which 19,991 live in the town of Emirdağ itself. The mayor is Cengiz Pala .The Emirdağ Mountains rise steeply behind...
-Karacalar village and now based in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
since over a decade, he was advantaged by the opportunities and outlets his talents found already at a very early age. He started to play his father's "cura" (a smaller version of bağlama
Baglama
thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
) at the age of 5, sang in a restaurant at 8 and was even admitted in his teens into a 300-member church choir as its only Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
member according to his web site. His family is certified to possess artistic background, since his uncle Şemsettin Kubat is an important poet of Turkish folk literature
Turkish folk literature
Turkish folk literature is an oral tradition deeply rooted, in its form, in Central Asian nomadic traditions. However, in its themes, Turkish folk literature reflects the problems peculiar to a settling people who have abandoned the nomadic lifestyle...
who is based in Emirdağ.
Career
Based principally in Turkey as of the end the 1980s, Kubat released his first album, carrying the same title as his screen nameStage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
, "Kubat", in 1996. Five other albums, each presenting particular characteristics but all of them also bearing his now unmistakable print, were released by Kubat to this day. These are;
- 1998: Bugün (Today)
- 1999: Bir ayrılık, bir yoksulluk, bir ölüm (A separation, a poverty, a death)
- 2001: Arşiv (Archive) 1-2-3. Consisting of a set with three albums uniting 35 anonymous Turkish folk songs, this album was notable in displaying Kubat reaching deep into the traditions, to come out strengthened in his art. The album was accompanied by an 80-page booklet prepared in eight languages giving details of the story related to each song.
- 2003: Lokman on the other hand was a tentative tour de force encompassing diverse influences from rock musicRock musicRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, pop musicPop musicPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, jazzJazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and classical musicClassical musicClassical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
introduced into Turkish folk music
His efforts for combining the traditions with international and novel elements were consecrated in a huge concert in 2002, orchestrated by René Giessen
René Giessen
René Giessen is a German musician, composer and conductor.-The harmonica player:Giessen is widely known for playing the harmonica in various cover-versions of the title melody of famous German Winnetou-movies from the 1960s starring Pierre Brice and Lex Barker...
, titled "Anadolu Güneşi" (Anatolian Sun) and held in İstanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
's Lütfi Kırdar concert hall.
His most recent album "Yare doğru" (Towards the loved one), announced to be in a more conservative outlook, is presently in phase of being released.
Albums
- Kubat (1996)
- Bugün (1998)
- Bir Ayrılık, Bir Yoksulluk Bir Ölüm (1999)
- Arşiv 1-2-3 (2001)
- Lokman (2003)
- Yare Doğru (2005)
- Kubat 2008 (2008)
- Kubat, İnce İnce (2010)