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Murat Coskun – portrait of the musician The internationally renowned percussionist Murat Coskun is an exceptionally versatile and creative artist-personality: He playfully traverses between the most various musical worlds of the orient and occident, commits himself to different styles like world-music, old music, jazz and experimental percussion, composes and teaches. Even if his music is meanwhile multi-disciplinary and crossing borders, his musical and cultural roots clearly become evident again and again: As a son of turkish parents, Murat Coskun was influenced early in life by the music and culture of his family. As he was brought up in Germany he also adapted the western way of life and it's music. So ofcourse he has always naturally combined oriental rhythms and melodies with the musical imagination of western culture. Murat Coskun, who in his art always gives serious thought to the term ''homeland'', defines the homeland as follows: „For me, home is no place but a condition that one reaches in certain situations, at certain places, with certain occasions, at certain meals. So one has several „homelands“ which now and again also contradicts itself. The homeland is therefore always with me - or sometimes also not. “ The intensive preoccupation with the topics homeland and mysticism have caused him to open up to many different cultures and to help inspire him to acquire a large music repertoire. He therefore initiates with it numerous expeditions to Istanbul, Damascus, Isfahan, North-Africa and the Balkans. In his study of oriental studies and music-ethnology, he dealt with the music of the Near East and Eastern Europe and in doing so created himself the theoretical foundation for his art. The frame drum which in his eyes brings all music cultures together to a common denominator, belongs to Murat Coskuns central instrument. It is probably the oldest and most original instrument in the world and has been domiciled like hardly any other instrument in all continents. In most cultures, it is played primarily by women and is to be heard in the most varied musical areas: whether as ritual instrument of the shamans or as accompanying instrument for weddings and celebrations, whether with sacral music or at secular concerts. However, Murat Coskun discovered the frame drum not through his mother who earlier was a frame drum player herself but through his percussion teacher Glen Velez who has strongly influenced his playing aswell as his musical views . Meanwhile Murat Coskun is a solid component of the international music scene and belongs to the most sought after frame drum players. In 1998 he was awarded the SWR-World Music Prize for his oriental-jazz-ensemble FisFüz and received the international ZMF-Prize in 2004. He performed concerts world-wide with his solo-program „Finger Dance “, is percussionist for Giora Feidmann and permanent member of the ensemble for early music „Spielleyt Freiburg “. He is continuously called up by internationally renowned musicians (for example Kudsi Erguner). His concerts have led him into countries such as Mongolia, South Korea, the USA, Iran, to Israel, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia aswell as into the entire Balkans and to Western Europe. Murat Coskun's stage-work is supplemented by the fact that he also appears as a popular studio musician and also as composer for numerous CD - and theater-productions. TV - and radio-productions with him and about him complete his artistic profile (for eg. ARD, ZDF, ARTE, Deutschland radio, BR, SWR, WDR). Finally, besides the exercise of his art, the communication of his musical and artistic experiences is also a major interest of the percussionist. Through his international teaching activity with countless frame drum master-classes and workshops, Murat Coskun possesses the necessary authority to mediate the art of frame drum playing simply and perceptively. In 2004 he released one of the first frame drum DVDs "Finger Dance" world-wide and is even engaged in the remodelling of frame drums, (for eg. as endorser of Schlagwerk Percussion and Anklang Musikwelt). One of Murat Coskun's main ventures is the exchange of cultures. Out of this idea he established „Tamburi Mundi “ in 2006, the International festival for frame drums, which has in the meantime attained an important status in the international frame drum scene. As musical director, he unites here the most renowned frame drum players from the most varied cultures one week long. |