DJ Ipek Soundmanagement

STORY
It was the mid-nineties as DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu changed the multilayered Berlin club scene. Gradually her eclectic music and characteristic mixes turned into a foundation of the new style emerging in the clubs and nightlife of the city at that time. Widespread magazine Zitty acknowledged exactly this when they ranked DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu as one of Berlin’s most important cultural contributors. Berlin based queer DJ has developed herself into an exclusive Berlin export article, visiting festivals and clubs all over the world: New York, the desert Sahara of Mali, Salvador de Bahia, Istanbul, Glasgow, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Peking and Cairo. She has toured in Spain with Ojos de Brujos and has made exclusive tours throughout China – twice. In Stockholm, Ipek is much longed for as annual host DJ at the RE:Orient festival. The Swedish queer magazine QX selected her hippest DJ in Europe, and the Londeners seems to agree, ‘cause in the World Beat DJ Competition at Electrowerk in 2005 they voted her the winner. Undisputedly, DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu has earned herself a reputation in the heterogeneous landscape of international nightlife. Her first own album, a compilation named “Beyond İstanbul – Underground Grooves of Turkey”, was awarded by The German Record Critics. The press was enthralled and called DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu a musical and political “visionary”, whose eclectic adventure journey leads immediately into a country of radical social change, far beyond the clichés and known Pop exports. The music critician Daniel Bax called her, “the Master of Ceremony of the transcultural understanding and has set important milestones”.
STYLE
The turkish SHE-J Ipek Ipekcioglu takes the crowd its senses on a flight through the night, serving hybrid and eclectic mix of Middle Eastern, OrAsian Balkan FolkElektroFusion , Anatolian & Oriental DubInElektro, Gypsy Funk & Break Beats & Pop and Berlin Elektro & Minimal, interwoven with electronic tunes from Break Beat, Drum’n Bass, House and Dancehall. Through one set, she takes the audience on an aural journey through the cultures and music of Turkey, North-Africa, Israel, Persia, the Balkans, Greece and Bollywood, as well as carefully planned escapades to the UK and USA. DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu is also known for her Berlin style Electro and Minimal sets. Her sound “Eklektik Berlinİstan” provides surprising breaks to the steady course of club music. Her emphasis clearly on kicking beats and dramatic baselines, DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu offers a dj act out of the ordinary.
Photo by Nicolas Tchegloff @ Multikulti Völlkerball

RESIDENT CLUBBING
In Berlin, the queer-living DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu is resident DJ at a row of popular clubs and festivals: SO36, Absolut Balkanizm, Kanakwood-PostMigrantSounds, Popdeurope and Berlinale. She is one of the masterminds behind the Berlin cult club night “Gayhane – House of Halay” and she hosts the “Re: Orient Club Night” in Stockholm / Sweden regularly since eight years. Apart from djaying, Ipekhas been the club curator of the InTransit Festival Berlin. For many years she organized the Orient Bazaar stage at the Carnival of Cultures together with Kokona Productions. Ipekorganized the turkish Alternativ-Electro-Night at Popkomm 2008, where great musicians held there showcase, such as Norrda and Gevende. She designs her own stage during the Berlin-Kreuzberg 1. May event MyFest and invites Bands to perform at her stage. She works also as music director of the prestigious post-migrant Theater and performing Art Space Ballhaus Naunystr. in Berlin Kreuzberg and of the Berliner Diyalog Theaterfestival.

DISCOGRAPHY & PRODUCTIONS
ALBUMS
Compilation Beyond İstanbul – Underground grooves of Turkey – Trikont 2006
Awarded by The German Record Critics
“highly sophisticated musical enlightenment” (Hamburger Abendblatt”)
“a cross-section, free of blinkers and ideology” (Rolling Stone)
“Album of the month” (Bavarian Radio Broadcasting’s program “World Receiver”)

Import Export a la Turka – Turkish sounds from Germany – Trikont 2007

OTHER RELEASES -
Tracks of DJ Ipek Ipekcioglu appears on several albums:

FESTIVALS:
• Jingle for the Şimdi Now Festival Berlin
• Jingles for the Dolmush X-Press – Festival Berlin
FILM:
• Filmmusic for the Best of the Wurst – by Grace Lee Berlinale Talent Campus, 2003
• At Berlinale, Zürcher & Berner Filmfestivals Awardwinning Documentary “Katzenball” by Veronika Minder, 2005
• Halbes Leben-Yarım Hayatlar Claudia Laszczak and Kay Wishöth, 2006
• Blind Date Istanbul – Habersiz Buluşma İstanbul by Daniela Herneth, 2007
• Zisternen – İstanbuls versunkene Paläste by Elfi Mikesch, 2007
THEATER:
• Die Bodenkosmetikerinnen – Kabarett 2004-2007
• Mozartmüzik – Eine türkische Hochzeit by Susanne Frey 2006
• Faked Identities at Beyond Belonging Festival by Nurkan Erpulat 2007
• Universal : Seoul Istanbul New York by Janina Janke, 2008
EVENT / LOCATION CITY
Athena / Kulturhaus ARENA Stuttgart / Germany
Baba Zula /Venice Biennale 2007 Venice / Italy
GeyHane & HomeNotHome Festival / Babylon İstanbul İstanbul / Turkey
BalkanBeatBox / Postbahnhof Berlin / Germany
B-club Riga / Latvia
Beauty Bar San Diego / US
Boban Markovic Berlin / Germany
BonnBiennale İstanbul Bonn / Germany
DJ Hell Berlin / Germany
DJ Ipek exclusive Chinatour 2006 Jinan Beijing Shanghai
DJ Ipek exclusive Chinatour 2007 Beijing Shanghai
Duman / Diyalog Festival Berlin / Germany
dZihan & Kamien / Labyrinth Amsterdam / Netherlands
Etnosur Festival in 2006 & 2007 Alcala / Spain
Pink Istanbul / Paradiso Amsterdam
Pink Amsterdam / Ghetto Istanbul İstanbul
Festival City of Women Ljubljana / Slovenia
Festival Queersicht Bern / Switzerland
Festival QueerZagreb Zagreb / Croatia
French Culture House / The German Embassy San'a & Aden / Yemen
FunDeMentals, Boom Pam, Amsterdam Klezmer Band / Popdeurope Berlin / Germany
Garaj İstanbul İstanbul / Turkey
Glastonburry Festival 2008 Somerset / UK
Goran Bregovic / Gentsee Feesten Gent / Belgium
Hüsnü Senlendirici & Niyaz / Re:Orient Festival Stockholm / Sweden
IF İstanbul 2008 / The Hall İstanbul / Turkey
La Ferme du Buisson / Noisel Noisel / France
La Mar de Musicas Cartagena / Spain
Manu Chao / Festival au Desert Essekane / Mali
Mercan Dede Berlin / Amsterdam / Belgium
MFÖ / İstanbul Vibes / Paradiso Amsterdam / Netherlands
Mor ve Ötesi / SO 36 Berlin / Germany
New Moves Arts Festival Glasgow / Scottland
Nitin Sawhney / Paradiso Amsterdam / Netherlands
Off-Club & Quixebeira Salvador de Bahia / Brazil
Ojos de Brujos & DJ Ipek on tour Andalucien / Spain
Oslo World Music Festival Oslo / Norway
Oufest / Boom / Club Noor Los Angeles / US
The Cooler & Desilicious & Nublu New York / US
Pride Festival Stockholm / Sweden
Public Service electronic music festival Copenhagen / Denmark
Sertap Erener / Live for Life Festival Arnheim / Germany
Soap Kills / Sfinks Festival Antwerp / Belgium
Winner of the World Beat DJ Award at Electrowerkz London / UK
SELECTED REFERENCES



A FEW SELECTED PRESS VOICES

“…first and foremost, the Berlin nightlife can’t do without her anymore.” EMMA

“You have to point it out, that Ipek belongs to one of few DJ’s who knows how to dj FOR the audience. She is able to build up a temporal frame, in which she surprises and challenges her audience, thereafter bringing them back to familiar territories…” Feedback at www.crashhelmet.ch

“…an artistic compass needle, (…) whom since 7 years goes her own way: the Berlin export article DJ İpek.” Björn Döring, Radio Multikulti & Zitty Berlin

“In the Kägelbanans club environment: DJ İpek, directly from the Berlin underground scene. She is incredible. Absorbed in her headphones, wildly turning the pages of her record folders, lashes the cd-player, looks up a second to check that the dance floor is packed and ready to spin loose. DJ Ipeksmiles, puts down the speakers. Dances (extremely cool), mimes to the techno worked Turkish schlager songs like a drag queen. She plays a strictly folkloric drum and clarinet song, she plays belly dance music and Darbuka solos, she manages to get a folkdance ring going on the dance floor, and some hard mixings later the whole ring is jumping like sweaty club monsters. DJ Ipeklooks like a modern dancing dervish, when she, full of satisfaction, swirls around and watches the mess she made.” Per Andersson, Expressen

“This night, that which Ipek plays is the collision of the Orient and the Occident. She mixes the oriental musical heritage with electronic House and Techno sequences. This event was the first one to put oriental House and Pop music on the German club landscape (…) Turks, Arabs, Greeks, Israelis, Irans, Germans, Americans and people from other culture celebrates. They are gays, heteros, they are christians, muslims, jews, atheists and everything in between…” Ulf Schubert, Berliner Zeitung

“…onwards there is DJ İpek's music. She is famous for her seductive fusion of Oriental, Asian and Balkan dance music, mixed with Break Beats, electronic sounds and Pop. Ipek Ipekcioglu, who is also a resident DJ at the SO36, is seen in Europe as one of the trend-setting Djanes and extremely popular with dancers. She herself is an energy miracle. Those who have experienced her behind the recordplayer or during her speedy dives onto the dance floor know this. With DJ Ipek you can cross borders and reach ecstasy through dancing!” Sandra Luzina, Tagesspiegel