Ayyıldız Music Group and Tunisia Yunus Emre Institute (YEI) Choir, which participated in the Bab el-Bahr Ramadan Nights Festival, held every year in Tunisia under the auspices of the Tunisian Ministry of Culture, gave a concert.

Ayyıldız Music Group and Tunisia Yunus Emre Institute Choir, which participated in the Türkiye's Ambassador to Tunisia Ahmet Misbah Demircan, YEI Tunisia Coordinator Ali İhsan Çevik, officials from the Tunisian Ministry of Culture, Turks living in Tunisia and Tunisians who love Turkish music attended the concert held on April 1, 2024 at the Ibn Haldun Cultural Center in the capital Tunisia.

At the concert, which started with the opening speech of Ambassador Demircan, Ayyıldız Music Group, consisting entirely of Tunisians, sang many Turkish songs.

At the concert, where Aşık Veysel's “I am on a Long and Narrow Road” (Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım), Neşet Ertaş's “False World” (Yalan Dünya), Zülfü Livaneli's “My Valiant My Lion” (Yiğidim Aslanım) were performed, Ömer Faruk Tekbilek's song "I Love You” Seni Seviyorum) was also presented to the taste of music lovers.

The Turkish songs performed by the Tunisian Yunus Emre Institute Choir, consisting of 15 people devoted to Turkish music, who took the stage after the Ayyıldız Music Group, were greatly appreciated.

"When you build emotion, you bring hearts and people closer"

Stating that he was impressed by the great interest and enthusiasm in the concert, Ambassador Demircan used the following expressions in his statement: "As Shakespeare said, 'music is the food of the soul', it is a very true saying, we turn to ourselves with music, we listen to ourselves. Turkish Sufi Music, pieces describing Sufism, musical instruments that represent the human being. It is truly a pleasure to be at a concert in such a meaningful month, where the group of amateur artists will present their selections from Turkish music. After all, even if the languages are different, when you build emotion, you bring hearts and people closer. I would like to thank all parties who contributed to the concert, especially Ibn Haldun Cultural Center and YEI.”

 “Turkish music unites”

Stating that he wholeheartedly supports the choir, Turkish Instructor Dr. Maksut Yıldırım who is in the YEI Choir and used the following statements:

“Turkish music enabled us to establish a good relationship between Tunisians and Turks. For example, all the artists in my group are Tunisian, I think this music group contributes greatly to the relations between the two cultures. With the concert we organize, we appeal to the Tunisian people, the beautiful people of Tunisia. We love Tunisians very much, and they probably love us very much, too. Music unites, especially Turkish music. Tunisia YEI made a great contribution to the concert we organized today, so I would like to thank them very much.”

Stating that the month of Ramadan is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Tunisia, YEI Tunisia Coordinator Çevik used the following words: “As the Institute, we wanted to contribute to this enthusiasm. We had the opportunity to introduce Turkish music to our Tunisian brothers and sisters within the scope of this festival organized under the auspices of the Tunisian Ministry of Culture. We will continue to establish ties between the two cultures with the different cultural events we will organize in the near future.”

YEI, which has been operating in Tunisia since 2018, organizes many cultural events to promote Türkiye and Turkish culture, as well as providing Turkish education.