TÜLAY GERMAN TRIBUTE
Pınar Tatlıkazan Quartet’s Tülay German Tribute is a contemporary reinterpretation of the work and spirit of pioneering Turkish singer Tülay German, whose voice and political presence reshaped Turkish music in the 1960s and 70s by bridging jazz, chanson, and Anatolian folk traditions. Before redefining Turkish music through politically charged folk rearrangements—later exploring French repertoire after moving to Paris due to her partner Erdem Buri's political exile—German began her artistic journey as a jazz singer, performing jazz standards and collaborating with leading figures of the scene, including Charles Mingus.
Drawing from German’s repertoire and artistic attitude, Berlin-based singer and composer Pınar Tatlıkazan (Pina Berlin) revisits these songs—including German’s original repertoire, jazz standards, and her folk interpretations in Turkish and French—through the lens of jazz, improvisation, and genre-fluid arrangements. Rather than recreating the originals, the project reimagines them, opening space for reharmonisation, rhythmic transformation, and collective improvisation. Rooted in Anatolian musical heritage and shaped by the international jazz scene, the tribute becomes a living dialogue between past and present, memory and experimentation.
The project was commissioned by Jazz am Helmholtzplatz for the Female Cadence series with support from the Musikfonds, and it emerged from Tatlıkazan’s research into Turkish jazz of the 1950s and 60s, developed within her Turkish Standards Quartet. The project seeks to answer the question: “What does jazz from Turkey sound like?” By tracing Tülay German’s early jazz roots and placing them in dialogue with Anatolian musical language and contemporary improvisation, the tribute approaches jazz as a living, evolving practice shaped by place, history, and cultural exchange. Tülay German Tribute is currently on tour.
LINEUP
Aarón Castrillo (ES) - Drums
Eren Solak (DE/TR) - Piano
Maik Kleer (DE) - Fretless Bass / Kontrabass
Pınar Tatlıkazan (TR/DE) - Vocals & Arrangement
LINKS
Other Full Songs from Live Concerts
Live Showreel
Pınar Tatlıkazan - Bio
Pınar Tatlıkazan is a Bursa-born, Istanbul-raised, Berlin-bred and -based vocalist, composer, and arranger navigating a moment of transformation in her music. Once celebrated in folk-rock, she is now going back to her roots in jazz, global, and transcultural sounds—blending Anatolian, Latin, and African rhythms with jazz harmonies and improvisational elements. Her music reflects her search for identity and connection.
Pınar Tatlıkazan’s path has been unconventional. From early classical and jazz training in Istanbul to living a double life in Berlin as an architecture student while secretly pursuing music, she has faced burnout and health challenges that pushed her to fully embrace her calling. Along the way, she has studied with Sheila Jordan, Céline Rudolph, Andreas Schmidt, Ece Göksu and currently Winnie Brückner at the University of Arts. Now, her creative practice is a laboratory for transformation—exploring how music, movement, and improvisation intersect to reflect the complexity of human experience.
Her recent work continues to expand her artistic vision, combining live performance, recording, and experimental approaches to composition. Pina Berlin is a musician in search of new languages and new ways to connect—with herself, her band, and her audiences—always evolving, always reaching beyond borders.
CONTACT / BOOKING
Pınar Tatlıkazan
+49 176 703 22392