Jazz at JAKI: Defne Şahin

Singer and composer Defne Şahin has developed a musical language that reflects her life in different cultures and countries. Born and raised in Berlin, the young musician has already lived in New York, Istanbul and Barcelona and is considered "a force to be reckoned with" in the international jazz scene (Tagesspiegel).
With "Hope" she presents an album that captures human existence in all its complexity with profound sensuality and clarity. In her new compositions, the genre-bending artist lets poems by U.S. poet Emily Dickinson and her own texts resound, which are a reflection on life and death, love and longing, fear and hope, as well as letting go of all this.
Poems have always played a major role in the musician's compositions: On her debut album "Yaşamak" (2011), which was praised as the "beginning of a successful career" (Jazzthethik), she set to music the poetry of the Turkish regime critic Nâzım Hikmet, while her album "Unravel" (2016) featured poems by William Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson in addition to her own song lyrics.

Defne Şahin's music has been heard on major stages such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Jazzfest Berlin and Istanbul Jazz Festival. In numerous collaborations with Guillermo Klein, Anthony Braxton, Jay Clayton and Shai Maestro, among others, she moves stylistically confidently on a wide variety of musical terrains.

"Hope" will be released on Oct. 27, 2023 on Berthold Records.