A FEW SELECTED PRESS VOICES

“Especially in Germany, Turkish music is thought to be old-fashioned, an image from folklore and the second-class «Gastarbeiter» culture. Only a few people in Germany have contributed in the last few years as much as DJ İpek İpekçioğlu to breaking down the frozen notions and prejudices of how people see Turkish music. As a star of the monthly «Gayhane» nightclub at SO36, an institution of the night life of the migrant district of Berlin-Kreuzberg, she really helped to improve these faulty notions by smashing unusual sounds into the ears of migrants and Germans. Where else could you expect to see Turks and Germans of every color and sexual orientation dancing arm in arm in the night to Turkish folk music? Who else gave such a productive culture shock to their own audience by shuffling Greek, Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish and other sounds into each other, while also combining techno disco tracks with Oriental hits or high quality belly dance rhythms? DJ İpek İpekçioğlu, one could say, is the MC of a transcultural understanding and has set important milestones.” Daniel Bax, TAZ

“(…) It’s not so unheard of for shejays to heat up the decks in Beijing, either. For those that remember, German DJ Ipek blew the crowd away at Tango last March for the “I Love EU” party with her Middle Easternstyled breaks set.” China Daily, that’s bj

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

“You have to point it out, that İpek 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, 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 İpek smiles, 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 İpek looks 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 İpek 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. İpek İpekçioğlu, 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 İpek you can cross borders and reach ecstasy through dancing!” Sandra Luzina, Tagesspiegel