Turkey's western Afyonkarahisar province has always been a stopover point for Turkish people during car journeys due to its location at the crossroads of favorite holiday destinations. When Afyonkarahisar is mentioned, the other thing that comes to mind is surely its delicious cuisine, featuring many delicacies such as Turkish delight, sucuk (dry, spicy beef sausage), poppy, keşkek (a dish made with wheat) and kaymak (clotted cream produced from buffalo milk). Thanks to its world-famous cuisine, Afyonkarahisar was even deemed worthy of joining UNESCO's Creative Cities Network.

However, with its lesser-known but most important aspect, the city is also a meeting point of the music world. Afyonkarahisar Jazz and Classical Music Festivals have been rejoicing the enthusiasts in the city, reviving the cultural life with the attendance of many master international and local musicians for 22 years. The jazz festival of the city, scheduled between June 7-11, is hosting great performances this year once again as well as mesmerizing exhibitions and talks.

Jazz, classical music in Afyon

The music festivals are organized by Afyonkarahisar Classical Music and Jazz Association, and its general art director is Hüseyin Başkadem. Speaking to Daily Sabah, Başkadem said that a total of 650 free concerts have been held at the Afyonkarahisar Jazz and Classical Music Festivals to date. However, the festivals do not only present performances but also hold various school activities to bring students together through music, according to the general art director. "Approximately 800,000 students were introduced to music and musicians with school talks and concerts as part of our music festivals in the last 21 years," he added.

Thanks to their great efforts, such beautiful concerts, the Afyonkarahisar Classical Music and Jazz Association was given Special Award of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism last year. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has presented the award since 1979 to honor those who contributed to developing culture, art and tourism in Turkey.

The top culture and art award in Turkey can be considered as Turkey's Oscars in culture, considering its value. Among other award recipients, last year were also the Turkish Literature Foundation and Turkish Culture Service Foundation.

Tale of two cities

While contributing to the promotion of Turkey on an international scale, the Afyonkarahisar Jazz and Classical Music Festivals present one of the best examples of friendship between civilizations as well. The musical companionship between the cities of Prague and Afyonkarahisar is reaching its 17th year.

The cooperation between the two cities started when musicians, critics, journalists and artists from Turkey took part in the 2005 Prague Open Jazz Festival. Then, the civil art movement gained momentum every year with the active participation of the important musicians from Turkey and Prague at each other's festivals. As part of this companionship, the Afyonkarahisar Jazz and Classical Music Festivals host many musicians from Prague.

Classical music concert

The 21st edition of the Afyonkarahisar Classical Music Festival was held on May 11-19 this year. While Bursa Regional State Symphony Orchestra performed the opening concert, the Sunset Concerts of the festival hosted the most famous classical music ensembles of Turkey and Prague. During the festival, Pavol Prazenica and Kandemir Basmacıoğlu's piano recitals and Theodora Kopecka's flute recital offered art lovers the most outstanding examples from world classical music works. The closing concert was performed by Veloce String Quartet in the Ayazini village in the Phrygian Valley.

Jazz festival

The concerts of the Afyonkarahisar Jazz Festival, which managed to survive despite the extraordinary pandemic conditions for the past two years, have returned to their usual routine with live performances this year. Czech soloist Katerina Vackova and the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality City Orchestra performed the festival's opening concert under the baton of Conductor Kemal Günç at the NG Afyon Hotel.

Arpanatolia, founded by the world-famous harpist Çağatay Akyol, also created a new and different synthesis with the lyre, harp, woodwind and percussion instruments used in Anatolia thousands of years ago for festival listeners. The Panarp Project, created by Akyol and pan-flutist Aydın Yavaş, was also a standout of the event.

Neşet Ruacan, one of the legendary names of Turkish jazz, took the stage with the young talent Ece Göksu as part of the festival as well. Great artist Melis Sökmen also participated with her quartet bearing her name.

Among other concerts at this year's festival are Frantisek Jenik Trio, composed by experienced musicians – Frantisek Jenik on piano/keyboard, Tomas Hanzlicek on bass guitar and Ivan Audes on drums; Adam Doucha Project, a modern Jazz trio, consisting of Adam Doucha on guitar, Filip Spaleny on bass guitar, Tomas Zeleny on drums; Selection of Grapes, featuring academic artists of Czech jazz such as Jenik on piano/keyboards), Spaleny on bass guitar and Audes on drums; Katerina Vackova Quartet, consisting of Katerina Vackova on vocals, Roman Palisa on piano/keyboards, Jan Korba on bass guitar and Vaclav Pitule on drums.

Consisting of Alper Bakıner, Yaşar Kadri Baş, Serkan Göl, Yusuf Alp Tambay and Nursena Kalız, Luxus also promises a great stage performance to those who want to listen to something both creative and entertaining in the festival program.

The closing concert of the festival is set to be performed by two different ensembles – Dynamic Roman Palisa Trios, featuring Roman Palisa on piano/ keyboards, Tomas Hanzlicek on bass guitar and Tomas Zelensy on drums; and Three Face, consisting of Adam Doucha on guitar, Jan Korba on bass guitar and Vaclav Pitule on drums.

School activities

The excitement of hosting valuable representatives of Turkey's cultural and artistic environment continues in the School Talks section, which is one of the most loved and indispensable parts of the festival. For the last two years, the interviews were made available to everyone with special recordings compiled by the artists for Afyonkarahisar students. The valuable cultural and artistic people again participated in the one-on-one interviews with the students in classrooms this year. Among these people are photographer Bülent Özgören, photographer Mehmet Ömür, advertiser-director Ferit Yantur, photographer Fethi Izan, author-book critic Metin Celal, writer-poet Yalvaç Ural, journalist-writer Artun Ünsal, author Ahmet Büke, author Yavuz Ekinci and author and food culture researcher Engin Akın.

Exhibitions on display

The Afyonkarahisar Jazz Festival organizes exhibitions for the participants as well. The first one is a group exhibition consisting of the works of five prominent artists who have made significant contributions to Turkey's photography. The exhibition in Afyon's Dereçine town, by Izan, Merih Akoğul, Ömür, Özgören and Ferit Yantur has become one of the unforgettables of the festival.

The other exhibition of the festival is "Unmasked Faces" by Sema Güral Sürmeli. The ceramic exhibition meets people in the lobby of NG Afyon Otel.

The Afyonkarahisar Jazz Festival is being held with the contributions of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Afyonkarahisar Governorship, Afyonkarahisar Municipality and Afyonkarahisar Provincial General Assembly and with the significant support of Park Hayat Health Group and NG Afyon Hotel. In addition to these supports, local sponsors and contributors continue to be the most critical companions that bring the festival to its 22nd year.