Merve Salgar
Tanbur Voice
Merve Salgar, born in Istanbul in 1990, began her musical journey in 2004 by studying the tanbur (Turkish long-necked lute) with Sadun Aksüt at the ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory. During her studies, she worked as a tanbur artist at TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Company) from 2008 to 2011. In 2011, she moved to Strasbourg to study musicology at the university there. Although she holds traditional Turkish music in high regard, she is also an improviser who is always looking for new sounds to incorporate into her music. Her passion for exploring new forms of musical expression led her to form the improvisational music group "Savt" in 2016 together with Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu and Canfeza Gündüz. Together they released their first album "Birinci Hane" under AK Müzik in Istanbul. She also collaborated with singer-songwriter Zoe Heselton to record the album "Health to Your Hands", which was released in 2018 under the label "Soleils Bleus".
In 2020, she was invited to perform as a solo artist for Marina Abramovic's exhibition "Akıs/Flux" at Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul. She is currently collaborating with musicians from the improvising and traditional music scene as a member of various groups such as Orpheus XXI (with Jordi Savall), Karmanota, Sousta Politiki, Incredible Mektoub Orchestra, Dreieck interferences, Imbroglio and Klank.ist.