International musicians flock to iKSV's Salon stage

Istanbul Culture and Arts Foundation's (İKSV) concert hall Salon will commence its new season in September with an exciting program. Having celebrated its fifth season last year, Salon invites singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Luis Vasquez to perform at the opening concert on Sept. 10. His post-punk solo project, launched in 2009, The Soft Moon is an American band from Oakland, California, covering a wide range of music styles, mostly electropunk, darkwave and psychedelic. In an interview with Dummy Mag, Vasquez cited Selda Bağcan, Erkin Koray and Edip Akbayram as some of the best musicians from Anatolian rock's heyday in the '60s and '70s.

For Koray's song "Silinmeyen Hatıralar" (Unforgettable Memories), Vasquez said: "Erkin Koray is a guitar legend in Turkey and possibly somewhat of a hero in his country. This track has the perfect amount of everything I like about Turkish psych all balled up into one song." The Soft Moon released their first album in 2010 accompanied by a second one titled "Zeros" in 2012 from Captured Track. Vasquez's latest album "Deeper" was released in May.

Salon's second September concert will present American folk-rock and indie-rock rhythms with Angel Olsen. Starting her music career as a vocalist for Bonnie Prince Billy and The Cairo Gang, Olsen will make her Turkey debut at Salon on Sept. 12. Her first EP "Strange Cacti" was released under the label of Bathetic Records. Following her album "Halfway Home," Olsen recorded her live performances for her second album "Burn Fire for No Witness." Featuring song lyrics taken from her personal diary, Olsen's "Halfway Home" presents the Chicago songwriter's emotional intricacies.

London-based jazz band Sons of Kemet, highly-acclaimed jazz trumpeter Christian Scott and Scottish electronic-jazz collective Hidden Orchestra will be among this season's guests. Previously taking the stage at the 22nd Istanbul Jazz Festival, Australian neo-soul band Hiatus Kaiyote will perform for Istanbulites once again. A number of other musicians who have already performed on the Salon stage will travel to Istanbul for upcoming concerts as well. William Doyle, better known with his stage name "East India Youth," American saxophonist and wind instrument virtuoso Colin Stetso as well as tuba player Daniel Herskedal and guitarist Arild Hammero, who will present their Norwegian Oud project, have been added to this season's schedule.

Suuns, a Canadian rock band from Montreal will share the stage with Jerusalem in My Heart. Fueling himself on Turkish and Jewish music, Yinon Muallem, who is known for his collaboration with Canadian violinist Sarah Neufeld, will also perform at Salon. As part of Salon's "Music 100%" program, Neneh Cherry - an important name in the Swedish music scene - and California duo Rhye are grabbing interest with their R&B melodies and will will perform at Salon too.

Nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007, Brazilian singer CeU, New Zealand indie-rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra and American alternative rock project Waxahatchee, which recalls the energy of the '90s, will be the other guests. Salon's stage will also be enlivened with Italian contemporary pianist and composer Fabrizio Paterlini, psychedelic-baroque pop musician Jacca Gardner, American indie-rock band Sebadoh, which was founded in 1986 with Eric Gaffney and Dinosaur Jr's principal drummer Lou Barlow, Dawn of Midi, who attracts interest with their album "Dysnomia," Icelandic singer and songwriter Soley and Canadian folk-rock band Great Lake Swimmers.