First Jam Session: An Open Invitation to Improvise Together
On 17 November 2019, Tapadum held its first open jam session in Faenza — a potluck dinner followed by free improvisation among musicians from Mediterranean, jazz, and folk backgrounds.
Not every musical evening needs a stage. Some of the best ones happen around a table, with instruments unpacked between courses and rhythms that start before anyone decides to start them.
On November 17, we held our first Jam Session & Incontro per l’Improvvisazione at our home concert space in Faenza. The invitation was simple: bring your instrument, bring something to share for dinner, and let’s see what happens when musicians meet without a setlist.
Five people came. Twenty-one more had been thinking about it. For a first attempt at building a regular improvisation circle, it felt like the right number — small enough to hear everyone, large enough to surprise each other.
How It Worked
The format was intentionally loose. No predetermined program, no rehearsals, no genre restrictions. Musicians from different backgrounds — some rooted in Mediterranean traditions, others in jazz, folk, or experimental approaches — sat down together and found common ground in real time.
We started with dinner. People brought food and wine to share, and the evening began with conversation before it became sound. By the time instruments came out, the room already felt comfortable. That matters. Improvisation requires trust, and trust does not happen on command.
The session ran for a few hours. Some moments worked immediately — a rhythm locked in, a melody found its counterpoint, and the music held itself together without discussion. Other moments were messier, more exploratory, and that was fine too. The point was not perfection but presence.
Why Jam Sessions Matter
For Karagüneş, improvisation has always been central. The group was never about reproducing traditional material note-for-note. It was about taking that material — songs collected over years of ethnomusicological fieldwork in Anatolia and Kurdistan, sung in Zazaki, Kurdish, Turkish, and Laz — and letting it breathe in new contexts.
Black Sea styles, Alevi deyişleri, Turkish folk, Kurdish melodies, and Romani rhythms meet in our repertoire, but they do not stay separate. They influence each other. And when we bring in instruments from different worlds — santur, ney, kemence, darbuka, bendir alongside saxophone, violin, bass, and guitar — the fusion happens naturally, not as a conceptual choice but as a practical one. We play what the music asks for.
This kind of openness requires practice. Jam sessions are that practice. They are where musicians learn to listen without dominating, to contribute without controlling, and to let something larger than any individual take shape.
An Ongoing Circle
This was the first session, not the last. The idea is to create a regular space where local musicians and visiting players can meet, exchange ideas, and build a shared language without needing formal introductions or credentials. If you play an instrument and you are curious, you are welcome.
The format will stay the same: potluck dinner, open improvisation, no admission fee. Bring what you want to share — food, drink, sound — and we will see where it goes.
Tapadum continues to host jam sessions and open improvisation evenings. Follow our upcoming events, or visit our workshop in Brisighella to explore our handcrafted instrument collection.
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.