BIO
Cansu Tanrıkulu is an internationally recognized vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and an improviser based in Berlin. She collaborates with exceptional creatives and likes making shape-shifting music mostly based on topics that are hard to imagine as musical entities at first glance. She is one of the busiest young voices in the European Creative Music Scene leading/co-leading multiple international composition and performance projects.
With her elastic singing, wide stylistic vocabulary and far reaching approach to melody and text-based improvisation Tanrıkulu became an in-demand vocalist in countless collaborations, actively performing in renowned platforms of Europe and USA with her bands next to projects she’s been supporting. In most of her bands she also plays synth, guitar an works with electronics as a part of her unique vocal language.
Her projects include: PILED UP by Tanrikulu (w. Lukas König, Nick Dunston & Simon Jermyn), Melez (w. Jim Black & Elias Stemeseder), MeoW (w. Jim Black, Liz Kosack & Dan Peter Sunderland) & Tanrıkulu feat. Greg Cohen & Tobias Delius, Pep Talk (w. Korhan Erel), Aşa (w. David August) and multiple other duo collaborations including clarinetist Carol McGonnell, guitarist & composer Jessica Ackerley and composer & multi-instrumentalist Nick Dunston.
– She was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1991 and moved to Berlin in 2015 after finishing her degree in cognitive psychology and a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance. In Berlin she graduated from Universität der Künste Berlin (Jazz Institut Berlin).
– Her voice was sampled to be in an audio library of pioneer experimental vocals next to Phil Minton, Audrey Chen and Lea Bertucci by Spitfire Audio in 2022.
– She had her theatre composition debut in 2021 for “Krampus” in Maxim Gorki Theater/Berlin as a co-composer with Korhan Erel.
– She made music on a scope of topics including televangelists, porn, neural structures, James Gandolfini & cats.
– Her album “Kantoj de Fermiteco” with the trio (w Greg Cohen and Tobias Delius), inspired from the tableaux art of Edward Kienholz, was released on LowSwing Records in November 2021 premiered w. Marc Ribot as guest in Jazzfest Berlin 2021 and reached out to Taiwan, USA, Japan and all over Europe with reviews including the MINT Magazin, BR Klassik. The album was presented with a 60-minute long film made by Tanrıkulu and Daniela Imhoff.
– She is a recipient of Jazz-Preis der Karl Hofer Gesellschaft for Soloist (2019), Elsa Neumann Stipendium – UdK (2021) and her projects are regularly supported by prestigious international institutions & residencies (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians 2022 founded by Jen Shyu & Sara Serpa).
– She is always expanding her scope of projects as well as working as a recording artist/performer for established international artists (incl. Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain VI 2021 Anthony Braxton’s Sonic Genome in 2019). Her collaborations include bands like Nick Dunston’s SKULTURA, Max Andrzejewski’s Hütte & Guests Playing Robert Wyatt’s Music, James Banner’s USINE & Stine Janvin’s Chords for Calling and other outstanding creatives including Trevor Dunn, Sofia Jernberg, Matt Mitchell, Cenk Ergün, Lucy Railton, Weston Olencki, Dan Nicholls, Otis Sandsjö, Sofia Borges, Kaan Bıyıkoglu, Zeynep Toraman, Julia Hülsmann & Tomomi Adachi.
– She is currently in an artistic residency of Goethe Institut in İstanbul, Tarabya working on her multi-media composition project alongside Kaan Bıyıkoglu and Nick Dunston.
Promo video for Kantoj de Fermiteco Jazzfest Berlin w. guest Marc Ribot 06.11.21
Click on the photo to watch the full concert w. Marc Ribot on arte concert:
MeoW’s debut album “MICE!” Click here to check out “MICE!” on Bandcamp
MeoW on arte.tv – live performance in Berlin Jazz Fest 2020
Anthony Braxton’s Sonic Genome- Jazzfest Berlin 2019
Cansu Tanrıkulu feat Greg Cohen & Tobias Delius – Kantoj de Fermiteco
“Spooky moods. Powerful playing. Telepathic communication. A beautiful and adventurous collection of surrealistic sonic tableaux by three master musicians.”— John Zorn
New album “Kantoj de Fermiteco” to be released on LowSwing Records in November (2021)
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“Cansu Tanrıkulu has that rare quality of creating art that is beyond description. A warrior as an improvisor, a reflective and adventurous composer, and a voice that can either melt your heart or make it jump a beat.”
Greg Cohen
“Doch Cansu Tanrikulus Stimme ist mehr als das, ein flexibles Monument, eine Naturgewalt, ein Ereignis, das sich über Raum und Zeit hinwegsetzt und sich doch immer mitten im Hier und Jetzt offenbart. Diese Stimme erfüllt keinen Selbstzweck. Sie ist nicht nur um ihrer selbst willen schön, beeindruckend und ergreifend, sondern Ausdruck einer Persönlichkeit, die tief in die Mysterien der menschlichen Gefühlswelten eindringt und sich dabei nicht selten selbst überrascht, erschreckt oder wundert. Jedes Lied wird bei ihr zur Landschaft, jedes Wort zur Gestalt, jeder Laut zur Eruption.”
Wolf Kampmann