Kara Güneş Quintet Returns: Mediterranean Sounds at Tapadum
On 19 October 2022, the Kara Güneş Quintet returned to Tapadum in Faenza — santur, saz, oud, violin, double bass, and percussion across Mediterranean, Balkan, and Near Eastern music.
October 19 brought the Kara Güneş Quintet back to Tapadum — now a familiar formation, and for that reason a deeper one. Seventeen people came. Sixty-four more had been thinking about it.
Concert at 20:30.
The Quintet
- Özgür Yalçın — voice, santur, guitars, saz
- Vaggelis Merkouris — oud, voice
- Claudio Cadei — violin, lavta
- Pippi Dimonte — double bass
- Alberto Mammolino — percussion
One addition to the instrument palette since the quintet’s debut: the saz — the long-necked lute central to Turkish folk and Alevi music — now alongside the santur and guitars. The saz brings a different tonal register to the melodic lines, its distinctive buzzing resonance sitting between the shimmer of the santur and the warmth of Vaggelis’s oud.
A Formation That Has Found Its Voice
The Kara Güneş Quintet first performed at Tapadum in October 2020. Since then the five musicians had continued developing the repertoire — reinterpretations of traditional material from the Mediterranean, Balkans, and Near East, alongside original compositions by Özgür and other members of the group.
What changes when a formation plays together over time is not the repertoire but the space between the notes. The musicians know where each other are going before they get there. The improvised passages become more daring. The quieter moments carry more weight.
October 19 was evidence of that maturation. Seventeen people in the room — the highest attendance the quintet had drawn at Tapadum — and the music held the attention throughout.
See the Kara Güneş Quintet
Live footage and studio recordings are available on the Kara Güneş YouTube channel.
Tapadum hosts concerts and workshops throughout the year. 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.