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Mehmet Polat Trio

The Mehmet Polat Trio is a spiritual yet adventurous meeting of three virtuosos of magical instruments: ney, kora and ud. With roots in the Ottoman, ancient Anatolian, Balkan and West African music traditions, the trio welcomes listeners with its musical authenticity. The original compositions are colored by daring improvisations and grooves, presented in an atmosphere of chamber music.

The Mehmet Polat Trio invites its audiences on a sincere musical journey from the traditional past to an innovative present.The music of the Mehmet Polat Trio was a cure for the soul with the sincerity and pure emotions of their songs. - Jazzkaar Festival, EE (LIVE)

Introspective music that needed no flashy fanfare and which brought the audience into a world of peace, spaciousness, serenity, pleasure and beauty. - Jazzenzo, NL (LIVE)

The Mehmet Polat Trio's debut album Next Spring was released in Autumn 2014 with Homerecords.be. This album has received many good reviews in the US, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, France and other European countries.

In his elaborate compositions Mehmet Polat combines Anatolian, Middle Eastern music styles with African patterns. Masterfully he fuses the full range and capacity of ney, kora and ud together with their cultures and beyond. - Jazz n More Magazine, CH

Next Spring is a touching encounter between three musical sensibilities that understand each other beyond cultural and linguistic divides. They sound as they have always been playing those three instruments together from a common emotional core, or a spiritual unity of talents. - Ethnotempos, FR

Mehmet Polat was born and raised in Urfa, Turkey, and studied Ottoman music in Istanbul. His new approach to ud playing and his broadened vision towards music making brought him to Amsterdam in 2007, where he collaborated and experimented with many other musicians from around the world. After completing his conservatory studies of Indian music and self studies of Persian, Arabic, Flamenco and other musical styles, Polat discovered the inner world and spiritual side of the African music. He was touched especially the timbre of kora. With kora as the earth element, ud as space and ney as air, the idea of Mehmet Polat Trio was born.

Sinan Arat is an accomplished ney player from Erzincan in the East of Turkey. His spiritual music roots started in Turkey but extend all the way to India - it was this broadened musical vision that brought him to the Netherlands. A master of kora, the Senegalese Bao Sissoko toured Europe for years before settling in Brussels. All three musicians share an appreciation of the enriching musical experiences they each have in Europe, which enabled them to explore beyond the horizons.

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Mehmet Polat Trio Performs Friday, Jan. 15 at The Shinnyo Center

Mehmet Polat Trio Performs Friday, Jan. 15 at The Shinnyo Center

Source: Michael Ricci

This Friday, Jan. 15, The Shinnyo Center for Meditation and Well-being will welcome the critically-acclaimed global jazz performance group, the Mehmet Polat Trio, to the United States, for a special transatlantic session of its ongoing Jazz Meditation series. The Mehmet Polat Trio will accompany a Shinnyo Center meditation guide to lead the audience in a short, music-infused meditation before a performance. The Mehmet Polat Trio is a spiritual yet adventurous group consisting of three virtuosos of the ney, kora and ...

Little miracles emerge with the kora's serenity, peacefulness and softness, the light breeze of the ney and the evocation of the wind that gives one a sense of freedom. Babelmed.net, FR

Listening to the combination of ney, kora and ud on "Next Spring" we hear a supreme upbeat to a new summer. It is a contemplative album where warmth lingers on every track. - MusicFrames, NL

It's great music to study too beautiful but unobtrusive, advanced and rich in mental stimulation, the chemistry between these musicians and their respective traditions ensures the kind of call and response synergy that makes for some original sounds. - The Voice Magazine, CA

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