ISTANBUL A WORLD CAPITAL

Istanbul a World Capital, has been offered for sale with DMC label in Turkey and throughout the world in March 2006 and it is a classic modern work of art dedicated to Istanbul by Tuluyhan Uğurlu, who was born in Istanbul and traveled to Vienna when he was young, and who longed for 14 years for the city he was born in.

When depicting Istanbul in his work of art, Uğurlu starts off with the words of Napoléon Bonaparte, “If there was only one country in the world, its capital would be Istanbul” and reflects the 3000 years of history of the city from the perspective of the 2000s.

In his new album consisting of 12 parts, as always Tuluyhan Uğurlu reaches out to the universal from the local and actively uses instruments of Turkish Music, Turkish Folk Music and Sufistic Music. In the World Capital City Istanbul, the artist achieves a symphonic sound with most advanced studio techniques in the world, and takes care to the youthfulness and dynamism of the work of art, with rhythms that address the new generation.

All compositions, arrangements and orchestrations in the album have been conducted by Tuluyhan Uğurlu and a group of artists from the Ministry of Culture and radio artists accompany him in live recordings:

Rebab: Mehmet Refik KAYA/ Pipe: Murat TORAMAN/ Reed flute: Emrah KIRTEPE/ Baglama: Ümit YILMAZ/Piano and Keyboards: Tuluyhan UĞURLU 

Yako Taragana-Natan Siliki from the Jewish community and Hafız Yahya Soyyiğit from the Sufistic Music Chorus of the Ministry of Culture accompany the album with their vocals.

Technical cast of the album is as follows:

Musical Supervisor, Record, Mix, Drum Programming: Can ÖZYİĞİT/Music Editing: Can ÖZYİĞİT, Togay ÖZYİĞİT/Mastering: Can ÖZYİĞİT, Togay ÖZYİĞİT, Tuluyhan UĞURLU/

PARTS OF ISTANBUL A WORLD CAPITAL

1. STANBUL A WORLD CAPITAL Minarets and Towers (Dedicated to Mimar Sinan)

2. SAINT SOFIA (Dedicated to Anthemios and Isidoros)

3. 24 HOURS ISTANBUL (Dedicated to Constantine and Fatih Sultan Mehmed)

4. VIEW OF THE OLD CITY FROM SKYSCRAPER

5. LONGING FOR OPEN SEAS

6. EAGLE OF THE REPUBLIC (Dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk)

7. FUTURE GENERATIONS

8. SACRED OF THE SACRED (Dedicated to Itri)

9. COBBLESTONE PAVEMENTS

10. A MAN FROM KONYA IN ISTANBUL (Dedicated to my Father)

11. NIGHT IN PERA

12. STANBUL A WORLD CAPITAL Solo Piano 

For the first time in this album, Tuluyhan Uğurlu departs from his classical sound and makes modern attempts. The album, which gives the first clues of his future works, is full of surprises. Some of the works, which start in the classical style, reach out to most decent technology and achieve an electronic form in world standards. Uğurlu believes that Istanbul, one of the largest metropolis cities in the world, can be depicted in such diversity and in a modern approach. Tuluyhan Uğurlu  dedicates certain parts of his work to important persons for Istanbul:

The first part entitled World Capital Istanbul Minarets And Towers, has been dedicated to Mimar Sinan. According to Uğurlu, if Mimar Sinan had lived today, he would have given his own style to the most important, most functional skyscrapers in the world and again would have achieved the unbelievable.

The artists has dedicated the work he composed for Saint Sophia, which he regards as “A temple of humanity”, to Anthemios, a mathematician from Tralles and Isıdoros, an architect from Miletos, who created this peerless work of art.

The mystic aspect of Istanbul is not neglected in the work. The part entitled “Sacred of the Sacred”, composed for the city where three religions exist together in freedom, includes melodies from the Salat-I Ummiye of Itri and has been dedicated to the great composer Itri. And two great statesmen of Istanbul… 24 Hours Istanbul has been dedicated to Fatih Sultan Mehmed, and Eagle of the Republic has been dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

There is also a personal dedication in the album. A different work including melodies from Anatolia, A Man From Konya in Istanbul, has been dedicated to the Uğurlu’s father, a poet who traveled to Istanbul for education in philosophy. Represented in the personality of Halim Uğurlu, this part has been composed for all inhabitants of Istanbul originating from Anatolia or Rumelia, who came to Istanbul from the countryside and who try to hold on to this great city.