Central Asia PhoNographic Mornings #05/15
Each Morning of the World #09
Basmane ~ İzmir ~ Turkey
« Morning in Basmane »
Mehmet Can Özer
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Basmane is one of the oldest locations of İzmir. The location includes a railway station (and a metro station), an old mosque, a church and an international fair spread in 1 km radius. The railway station is one of the first ever built in İzmir, around 1860s. İzmir’s multi cultural background can be traced here architecturally. In the last few decades, it has lost its precious potential, and left from its owners. During the Syrian War, the refugees have moved to the location and created a vivid life there.

The composition is based on the sounds recorded around Basmane, first the rain gather with the soil around International İzmir Fair’s ground, then we reach to the train station. Afterwards, we do witness the infrastructural change/building sites all around the place, while people are working or passing by. My main idea was to draw a sound portrait of the place, with my abstractions and show the mechanical side of the city as it is.


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Mehmet Can Özer
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Mehmet Can Özer is a multifaceted composer whose music combines traditional musical elements with electroacoustic music. Having lived in both Europe and Turkey for the past decade, Mr. Özer has synthesised both Western and Eastern sources into his own original musical language. His works have been released internationally in a series of five solo albums which includes the first Turkish electroacoustic music CD release “Siyah Kalem Dance (2009)” as well as other compilations such as “An Anthology of Turkish Experimental Music (2016)”.
Mr. Özer has performed and conducted master classes in an array of well-established international festivals such as Bourges (France), Berlinale (Germany), AudioArt (Poland), Remusica (Kosovo), Busan Biennale (Korea), Pyramidale (Germany), Acousmania (Romania), SMC (Greece), Generator (Switzerland), Electro- Globe (Belgium), Create (USA), EMUfest (Italy), Ankara International Music Festival (Turkey), Granada Festival (Spain), Estoril Festival (Portugal), DeSonanz (Macedonia), Apparat (Denmark), Notam (Norway), Exposition of New Music (Czech Republic), Animafest (Belgium), Bimbache (Germany), Macedonian New Music Days (Macedonia), Kiev International Music Days (Ukraine) and Vox Electronica (Ukraine).
His instrumental compositions have been performed in MaerzMusik, Moritzburg, Hambacher Musikfest(Germany), Sigulda (Latvia) and Goslar-Herz International Musik Festival.
Many of his works have been commissioned by prestigious institutions, notable individuals and international competitions. Amongst these are the Presidential Symphony Orchestra (Ankara), Thyssen- Bornemisza Art Contemporary (Austria), the Goethe Institute (Germany), I. M. E. B. (France), Musiques&Recherches (Belgium), the Visisonor Foundation (Holland), Duo Ums’n Jip (Switzerland), Aksanat (Turkey), Pauline Sachse (Germany), Lauma Skride (Latvia), Arjang Omrani (Iran), Axel Buehter (Germany), and the 1st International Contrabass Competition (Turkey), PortIzmir (Turkey) as well as EMS (Sweden).
Mr. Özer has won prizes in the Halici-Midi Composition Competition (1998) and the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (2003 and 2007). He received the Goethe Institute Artist Award (2006 and 2018) and the SWR Experimental Studio Grant (2008).
Mehmet Can Özer was born in 1981. He studied both composition and music technologies in Ankara, Geneva, Zürich and Berlin under the tutelage of Bujor Hoinic, Michael Jarrell, Rainer Boesch and Gerald Bennett. Since 2007, Mr. Özer has used his personally developed software "Asure" in his concerts. Besides his artistic activities, Mehmet Can Özer is an active sound engineer whose productions center on classical and jazz music. Currently he is a professor and the head of the music department at Yaşar University in Izmir (Turkey).

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www.musma.eu/composers/mehmet-can-özer/
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