Ethno-Funk Project: A New Sound Takes Shape at Tapadum
On 23 April 2022, the Ethno-Funk Project made its debut at Tapadum in Faenza — Özgür Yalçın's caglama, bozuq, and santoor meeting bass and drums where ethnic modal music shares the pulse of funk.
April 23 was a first for us — not a guest artist, not an invited ensemble, but the debut performance of a new project we had been building from the inside. Five people came. Twenty-seven more had been thinking about it.
The Ethno-Funk Project played its first concert at Tapadum.
The Project
The idea was simple and ambitious at the same time: bring ethnic instruments and their modal, melodic traditions into direct contact with bass and drums — the rhythmic engine of funk — and see what happens when the two worlds share the same pulse.
The formation:
- Özgür Yalçın — vocals, caglama, Arabic bozuq, santoor, guitar
- Massimo Sutera — bass
- Adil Eddy — drums
Three Instruments, Three Worlds
The instrument list on my side spans a significant geographic range. The caglama is a small long-necked lute from the Anatolian folk tradition — lighter in tone than the baglama, used in the Alevi musical repertoire. The Arabic bozuq is a long-necked plucked instrument from the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly associated with Syrian and Lebanese folk and maqam music. The santoor — the Iranian hammered dulcimer that has appeared throughout Tapadum’s concert history — brings its shimmer and sustain. Guitar connects these instruments to Western harmonic vocabulary.
Against this, Massimo Sutera’s bass provided something that ethnic ensemble music rarely has: a deep, warm low end with groove built into every note. And Adil Eddy’s drums gave the whole thing a rhythmic drive that is simply not available in traditional percussion formats — not better or worse, but different, and in this context exactly right.
Composition and Improvisation
The program combined composed pieces with improvisation — a balance that suited the format. Composed sections gave the music shape and direction; improvised passages let the three musicians respond to each other in real time, finding what the funk-ethnic intersection actually sounds like when no one is forcing it.
That is the honest answer to what the Ethno-Funk Project is: an experiment in progress. The first concert was also a first rehearsal in front of an audience, which is often the most useful kind.
After the Concert: Jam Session
Immediately after the concert we opened the floor, as always. This time the invitation was specific — musician friends with their instruments were particularly welcome. The trio stayed on stage and improvised with whoever joined. The funk-ethnic framework turned out to be a generous host: almost any instrument can find a place against a good groove.
Tapadum hosts concerts and jam sessions throughout the year. Explore our ethnic instrument collection or follow our upcoming events.
Özgür Yalçın is the founder of Tapadum and the founding member of Karagüneş. He has performed ethnic and world music across Europe for over twenty-five years and builds custom instruments from Tapadum’s workshop in Brisighella, Italy.