Hezarfen Ensemble opens a window to reflection on the fates of peoples close to the borders of and within Turkey who have suffered displacement due to war from the last century to today. From the mass 1915-1923 Armenian, Greek and Turkish population displacements and exchanges in the wake of the First World War and Turkey’s struggle for independence, to Palestinian tragedies in Israel in 1948, Lebanon in 1980, Kurdish forced migrations within Turkey in the 1980’s, and finally to the Syrian refugees pouring across the border into Turkey today, the areas surrounding Anatolia have had more than their share of troubles due to war in the last century--even within the last 20 years. Central to this program, period photo stills accompanied by the powerfully evocative poetry and writings of Yaşar Kemal, Mahmoud Darwish, Giorgos Seferis and refugee authors are interspersed between each work, with the instrumental pieces themselves reflections by each composer on events that have shaped history and the lives of so many. Through poetry, visuals and music, this program reflects on the consequences of ‘idealistic’ political agendas and nation-building projects that irrevocably shaped the destinies of so many. 

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