SEYYARE – Anatolian Women’s Choir: »Now, everybody is on the Road«

The Anatolian women’s choir SEYYARE emerged out of a moment of collective urgency: the spontaneous singing that took place during the funeral of Filiz Taşkın, a pioneer of migrant resistance who passed away on 17 January 2024. From this act of remembrance, a choir gradually took shape, working until June 2026 under the patronage of Shermin Langhoff (Maxim Gorki Theater) and under the musical direction of Sema Moritz.

Marked by experiences of migration and exile, the singers of SEYYARE bring together a layered repertoire in more than ten languages: centuries-old folk songs from Anatolia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the wider Southwest Asian region. Moritz – singer, storyteller, and musical archaeologist – has spent more than four decades moving between Berlin and Istanbul along the fault lines of memory, sound, and artistic freedom. Her work approaches music as a social space: one of encounter, empowerment, and collective memory that refuses to be silenced. Her projects bring together Jewish, Sephardic, Armenian, and Turkish sound archives and texts – from the tangos, foxtrots, and waltzes of 1920s–1940s Istanbul to songs of resistance. In doing so, she places herself within the lineage of great Turkish stage singers – a chanson history still far too overlooked in the German context. In doing so, she places herself within the lineage of great Turkish stage singers – a chanson history still far too overlooked in the German context.

With SEYYARE, a cross-generational migrant women’s choir has emerged that understands the voice as a political practice. Most recently, the choir shaped »Das Rote Haus« by Ersan Mondtag at the Maxim Gorki Theater.

As part of a cooperation with the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, SEYYARE will appear at the Pop-Kultur Festival. During a residency connected to the Kyiv Biennale, the choir will gather regularly for rehearsals at the KW, which will be publicly accessible on 16 July. A concert within the official festival programme will follow – polyphonic, resistant, and unmistakably present.