Greek and Turkish Music Ensembles in San Francisco Bay Area

Our language cooperative has deep roots in music tradition. Our co-founders met through their shared love of Balkan music - Yağız Şen played a concert of Turkish, Greek and Klezmer music with the Orchestra Euphonos Band at Lola Moroz's house. The co-founders and many of our Greek and Turkish language students, both in the Bay Area and beyond, continue to be active members of the Balkan music scene, including music from the Turkish and Greek-speaking regions and the wider Balkans. While many of our students at Halbuki initially choose to study Greek or Turkish because of their interest in music from Greece or Turkey and neighboring countries, others gained appreciation for the music through studying the language, as listening to music from a cultural-linguistic group helps both with linguistic and cultural understanding, and there is something really special about being able to connect with people over live music. Going on live events also gives language learners an opportunity to meet both native speakers of the language that their are studying, as well as other fellow students who they can practice with.

The Metanastys Music Collective, lead by Halbuki's co-founder and lead Turkish Instructor, Yağız Şen, performing a Turkish tune in San Fransisco at the Tenderloin National Forest

We highly encourage our students and anyone learning to speak Turkish or Greek in the San Francisco Bay Area to follow the local Greek and/or Turkish Music Ensembles in San Francisco Bay Areas:

• A la Turca Connection - Turkish folk and rock music

• Mechanical Turk - Turkish rock music

• Metanastys  (our co-founder Yağız Şen's band) - a mix of Turkish and Greek folk (including Rebetiko) and rock music, as well as Romanian, Roma, and Jazz music.

• Taksim Big Band - Turkish music 

• Orchestra Euphonos - Klezmer and Balkan music, with some Turkish repertoire.

• Duygu and Friends - Turkish folk music

• Ashik Ensemble - Turkish ashik (aşık) music

• Nakarat - Turkish folk music

• Istanbul Connection - Balkan and Latinx music. 

• Radio Istanbul  - Turkish, Roma, Balkan and Arabic music. 

• Arcush - Turkish and Romani music. 

• Edessa - Turkish, Greek and other Balkan music. 

• Deli Kanlı - music from Turkey, Greece and Macedonia

• Disciples of Markos - Classic Rebetiko music

• Fanfare Zambaleta - Balkan brass band with some Greek repertoire.

• Rumen Shopov and Merakli - Turkish-Romani music

• Dodona - Music from Albanian and Epirus, Greece

• Helios Greek Band traditional Rebetiko, Laika, Nissiotika, Demotika and Modern Greek music

• Qadim Ensemble- Arabic, Jewish, Turkish Sufi, Hebrew-Yemenite, Armenian, Greek, Ladino and Moroccan repertoire 

• Kombos Collective - Greek chamber music

• Çardak  - Balkan Folk music ensemble including Greek and Turkish repertoire 

• Imamyar Hasanov - Azeri Kamancha music

• Ariya Rengin - Kurdish Turkish and Armenian music. 

• Vardari - Pan Balkan music collective.

There are also several ongoing monthly/weekly events featuring this type of music from rotating music collectives in the Bay Area:

1. Ballkan Sundays - This music event has been going on for nearly 2 decades in San Francisco and surroundings, and has been a center for fostering the Balkan Music community. The event currently takes place every 4th Sunday in Berkeley at the legendary Ashkenaz.

2. Berkley Balkan Bacchanal at the Starry Plough in Berkeley every third Saturday of each month.

3. Kafana Balkana this event takes place 4 times a year at the Rickshaw stop in San Francisco, and features a large live band with lively dance music, often times with renown musicians flying in from out of town to perform.

And for the very musically inclined, the legendary local Mendocino Balkan Music Camp (formally known as 'Eastern European Folklife Center) is very family friendly and a really great place for kids to grow up and be exposed to both Greek and Turkish music, as well as and Balkan Music traditions, at which Yağız teaches makam theory. The vibrancy of the local Balkan music scene is really there in large part thanks to this camp which has been around for decades.