Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek nominated for VIA Award 2025
Derya Yıldırım sings a song that she knows from her grandmother - an Anatolian folk classic: “Hop Bico”, which means “Hop around, Bico”. Derya's grandmother interpreted the song in her own way, Derya's version is similar - and yet completely different. This is no coincidence, but a concept, because Derya is convinced that if you play an old folk song, you have to add something of your own to it “otherwise you might as well put on the old record”.
As a musical archive of collective experiences, the new album 'Yarin Yoksa' comprises original compositions and features three traditional Anatolian folk songs. Derya Yildirim lends her voice to the cultural heritage of her family, a folk song heritage that was already there yesterday and will be there for a long time to come. She carefully and respectfully transfers the songs into the present, colors them psychedelically and underlays them with hypnotic vocals. In this way, something new is added to the existing, which contains the experiences of generations, including those of today's society.
Born and raised in Hamburg, Derya began her musical journey at a young age at home, where she played traditional Anatolian folk songs with her family. Her father encouraged her to learn various instruments - starting with the baglama, a seven-stringed Turkish lute. Derya also played the piano, ud, guitar and saxophone from an early age and became a versatile multi-instrumentalist. However, she has remained particularly attached to the baglama - “there's just something very magical about it, it's my companion, it tells my story and carries my voice”.
Derya condenses all these influences into her own musical language, which draws on the Anatolian sound world and is both contemporary and universal. During a theater project in 2014, she met the French musicians Graham Mushnik (keyboards) and Antonin Voyant (guitar, flute) from Catapulte Records and founded the band Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek with them. In 2021, she was joined by drummer Helen Wells, who comes from the DIY and psychedelic scene in Cape Town, South Africa.
Despite their diverse influences, the band avoids the term “world music” and prefers to describe their sound as “outernational” - a self-confident expression for a more inclusive sound that transcends borders. “You need a groove and a melody, and everything around it is free.” - This guiding principle informs the band's songwriting and interpretation of traditional folk standards. "I believe that the melodies shouldn't be changed, because we are responsible for preserving the music in the right way. Our versions respect the roots. They are the same lyrics and the same melodies, but they may have a completely different soul."
The new album 'Yarin Yoksa' by Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek captures this soul and gives space to its poetry and its resistance - both central themes in the Anatolian musical tradition: "Some of these poems were written hundreds of years ago, but they are still relevant. This music is important because it is still the voice of the people, the minority and the oppressed". After self-producing several albums, they signed to New York label Big Crown Records in 2024 and collaborated with Grammy award-winning producer Leon Michels (El Michels Affair) for 'Yarin Yoksa'. The recordings are a balance between preservation and innovation and they give an idea of what would be if there was no tomorrow - 'Yarin Yoksa'. If we knew better what really matters.
