Kara Güneş Quintet: Mediterranean, Balkan, and Near Eastern Music Live
On 2 October 2020, the Kara Güneş Quintet gave its first full performance at Tapadum's garden in Faenza — santur, oud, violin, double bass, and percussion across Mediterranean, Balkan, and Near Eastern music.
October 2 marked a milestone for us: the second garden concert at Tapadum, and the first full performance of the Kara Güneş Quintet as a complete formation. Places were limited, reservations were required, and every spot was taken.
Sixteen people came to hear five musicians explore a sound that had been taking shape for some time.
The Quintet: Five Musicians, One Sound
The Kara Güneş Quintet was born from the meeting of musicians coming from different traditions, with the shared intention of exploring and cross-pollinating the musics of the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and the Near East — honouring a heritage that, in its richness and variety, represents centuries of exchange and dialogue.
The formation that evening:
- Özgür Yalçın — voice, santur, guitars
- Vaggelis Merkouris — oud, voice
- Claudio Cadei — violin, lavta
- Pippi Dimonte — double bass
- Alberto Mammolino — percussion
Five Voices, Five Worlds
Özgür Yalçın is the founder and composer of the historic Turkish band Karagüneş. Since 1997 he has performed across Turkey and Europe, composed film soundtracks — including İncir Çekirdeği directed by Selda Çiçek — and recorded six albums, the most recent of which, Mevsimler Geçti, was produced by Kalan Music.
Vaggelis Merkouris is a virtuoso of Greek and Mediterranean music in its many forms. He studied oud with the great master Nikos Saragoudas and has created several musical projects in Italy, including Mesogaia and Mare Nostrum. He collaborates with master Jamal Ouassini and various artists across genres — among them Italian singer-songwriter Vinicio Capossela.
Claudio Cadei is a violinist and composer specialising in improvisational techniques rooted in Gypsy music. His authorial approach has produced two albums of original compositions: Il Grande Incanto and La Terra di Nessuno. He has composed soundtracks for several films, including The Harvest (SMK Videofactory, 2017), and leads the gypsy swing band Les Touches Louches.
Pippi Dimonte is a double bassist and composer who has accompanied Italy’s most important gypsy swing guitarists on tour — Adrien Moignard, Tchavolo Schmitt, Sébastien Giniaux, Antoine Boyer — and released several original albums, including Hieronymus and Trio Mezcal.
Alberto Mammolino is a percussionist and frame drum builder whose interest in the musical traditions of Southern Italy led him to study a wide range of techniques and odd-time rhythms. He has refined his practice of frame drums, cajón, riq, udu, and darbuka under national and international masters, and was part of Le Lame da Barba — winners of the Premio Nazionale Città di Loano for traditional Italian music.
What the Quintet Does
The repertoire moves between reinterpretations of traditional pieces from across the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world and original compositions by Özgür and other members of the group. The research that underpins it is serious: years of fieldwork by Özgür in various regions of Turkey, and Vaggelis Merkouris’s deep familiarity with the Eastern Mediterranean repertoire.
The particular timbre of the santur — an instrument of ancient Iranian origins that spread across the Mediterranean basin — meets the warm sound of Vaggelis’s oud and the Gypsy flair of Claudio’s violin. Behind them, Pippi Dimonte’s double bass and Alberto Mammolino’s percussion provide a rhythmic foundation that is anything but conventional.
The result is a sound that is distinctly Mediterranean without belonging exclusively to any single tradition within it.
See and Hear the Quintet
Two recordings that give a sense of the live sound:
The full channel, including live footage and studio recordings, is available at the Kara Güneş YouTube channel.
A Garden in October
The garden concert format had worked well in the summer. In early October, with the evenings still mild, it worked again. Sixteen people sat outside, the sound carried well, and the music had the space it needed.
This was the beginning of what would become a regular formation. The Kara Güneş Quintet would return to our stage many times in the years that followed.
Tapadum continues to host concerts from across the Mediterranean and beyond. Explore our handcrafted 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.