A Bridge Between the Orient and Occident; ARIFA at Kennedy Center on Sept. 24th

Ancient musical traditions from the Middle East and Balkans are blended with jazz and contemporary improvised music through a Western frame of mind.

Anatolian Alchemy is the second album by Dutch based Arifa, since the founding three years ago have played in 5 continents. Arifa’s debut album ‘Beyond Babylon’ received five star reviews and was highly acclaimed internationally.

Arifa’s secret is the creative chemistry between its four members. Coming from Romania, Turkey, the Netherlands and Germany their music is just as diverse as their origins, moving from traditional Turkish and Balkan sounds to jazz and classical music.

Arifa was founded in 2010. Since then they have performed in Belgium, Germany, Cuba, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Denmark at OffWomex, Canada, Colombia, Poland, Jordan, France, Romania, Czech Republic, USA & United Kingdom. They have been collaborating with amazing artists as: Aynur Doğan, Arto Tunçboyacıyan, Theodosii Spassov, Şenol Filiz, Jorge Reyes, the Gypsies of Rajasthan and Jahida Wehbe, resulting in concerts, recordings and tours.

Arifa has released “Beyond Babylon” in 2010 and “Anatolian Alchemy” in 2012. Both albums received very high reviews and attention from the media and audience. Awarded as best world music releses in the Netheralnds consecutively and distinguished with 5 stars by various publications. You can read reviews from speciality magazines as Songlines, Mondomix, and many others.

Band Members Include:
Alex Simu (Ro) clarinet & live laptop
Mehmet Polat (TR) ud
Franz von Chossy (DE) piano
Sjahin During (TR/NL) percussion set