Derya Türkan & Friends

Experience the music of 17th-century Turkey, performed on traditional instruments by Aga Khan Master Musicians.Come on a musical journey to 17th-century Constantinople, epicentre of the Ottoman Empire.

There you will cross paths with two fascinating men.Ali Ufkî began life as a Polish Protestant.

Captured and sold to a Sultan, he converted to Islam and became an extraordinary linguist and scholar.

Dimitrie Cantemir was a Moldavian prince, and a prolific writer on history, geography, philosophy, science and music.

Both men collected and transcribed hundreds of pieces of Turkish music, as well as composing their own works.Fresh from his 2025 Aga Khan Music Awards win, Derya Türkan, master of the kemençe (a three-stringed fiddle) takes the stage.

He is joined by luminous vocalist Dilek Türkan and Aga Khan Master Musicians Yurdal Tokcan, Basel Rajoub and Feras Charestan.

Together, they add a contemporary twist to the sound of a time and place that’s more connected to our own than we realise.