Çengname - Şirin Pancaroğlu

Ceng is a kind of lap harp of 24 strings. The instrument had been involved in Ottoman court music, philosophical occasions, poetic gatherings, intellectual meetings. Ceng started to extinct as of seventeenth century; but nowadays, thanks to Şirin Pancaroğlu it again takes part in a music fest together with leading musicians of Turkey, and İlhan Yazıcı, one of the great voices of the country. "Cengname" is a concert consisting of a wide range of music from chants to songs and instrumentals. This concert reminds  an Ottoman ceng tradition via the epic voice of the arp. Such rebirth comes to existence together with Şirin Pancaroğlu, Derya Türkan, Yurdal Tokcan, Fahrettin Yarkı and İlhan Yazıcı.

ŞİRİN PANCAROĞLU

Şirin Pancaroğlu, distinguishes herself with her open approach to  music played on the harp. Convinced that the harp’s voice is strong enough to convey the full breadth of musical expression, Pancaroğlu has been recognized in musical circles for her thorough interpretative skills and multifaceted musical personality. She regularly collaborates with performers and composers of diverse backgrounds, crossing boundaries between musical styles while contributing to the harp repertoire with new works commissioned by her or dedicated to her. Discovering a variety of musical identities for the her instrument is one of Şirin Pancaroğlu’s constant _endeavors.

Praised by the Washington Post in 1993 as a “major talent of international caliber”, Pancaroğlu released her first recording “A String of Longing,” in 1998, followed by “Under the Shooting Star”, “Barokarp”  in 2000, “Telveten” in 2009, “Old World, New World” and  “Vibrations of Istanbul” in 2010.  Pancaroğlu has been a guest soloist at the Festival Printemps des Arts, Berlioz Festival, the Festival de la Harpe en Avesnois, the Chirens Chamber Music Festival, the Semaines Musicales de Villeveyrac and the Trièves _Festival in France; the Imagine New Music Festival, the Millenium Stage, the Ebb and Flow _Arts Festival in the USA, the Belgrade Harp Festival, the International Jerusalem Oud Festival,_the Rio de Janeiro International Harp Festival, the Festival de la Cuidad de Mexico. Şirin_ Pancaroğlu is the founder and president of the Association for the Art of the Harp and holds _an Honorable Mention given to her by the Middle Eastern University Senate in 2008.