Harris Center Presents An Evening with the 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.

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.

The three of them had many enriching experiences playing their non-Western instruments as soloists and color musicians among artists from classical, jazz and other Western genres. In the unique constellation of the Mehmet Polat Trio, the ney, kora and ud assume the main roles, with ample freedom to explore the full capacity of each instrument in the mix.

The musicians value the traditional and spiritual characters of their instruments and at the same time the opportunities to innovate with them. Polat added two extra bass strings to his ud, expanding the instrument's function and color in the overall sound. Arat has played flutes originating from India to Western Europe, and brings these influences to his Turkish ney playing. Sissoko added half-tone tuning clips to each string of his kora, to accommodate different tonalities.

As the reviews declare, The Mehmet Polat Trio is more than a new combination of Turkish and African instruments. Polat thinks that music playing is a sincere and direct connection from heart to heart. In the music of the Trio, Polat fuses his artistic perfectionism with his ongoing spiritual paths, which appear as many deep expressions and many colors in his compositions. Polat's compositions are mostly in Jazz forms with lots of free space for each musician to improvise in. With a wide range of tone, makam from the Classic Turkish Music and the rhythm choices from Turkey, Balkan and World infused with African interpretation, these musicians are pushing their boundaries and moving forward in fusing the sound of this unique blend of instruments and the musical traditions from which they originate.

The Mehmet Polat Trio is currently preparing to record their second album 'Ask Your Heart', expected to be released in 2016.