The Journey of Piri Reis
P î R î, the sole album about Piri Reis. First conceived in 2017, the album is inspired by the life of the famous cartographer Piri Reis and his stunning works: the World Map and Kitab-ı Bahriye.
The compositions of the entire work including saxophone, live electronics, the choreography were done by the artist. The project is performed by six people- vocal, violin, saxophone, electric guitar, electric bass, drums, and at least three dancers. In addition to the on-stage crew, the ‘PiRi’ production team includes an audio-visual artist.
The whole performance takes one hour fifteen minutes. Although production and the album are consisting of 7 different pieces/works that constitute parts of an overarching story.
The story starts at his birth ’Born to Be Mediterranean’ which is the essential piece of the album. The artist’s fourth piece is about his hometown ‘Marmaris’, sea-life, and Piri Reis’ cruises.
Close to the end, -a death sentence- a sixth piece called ’ Execution’ appears. ‘PiRi’. The last work is a ‘Requiem for Piri’ (Reis) which told the story audio-visually and ended delightedly.
After its first performance in Rotterdam in 2019, the album was admired by the audience. The album was recorded in July 2019 in Istanbul and will be released in The Netherlands at the beginning of 2020 through digital platforms.
Meriç Çalışan: (Vocal), Çisem Özkurt: (Violin), Adam Taylor: (Guitar), Selçuk Karaman: (Electric Bass), Domen Cizej: (Drums), Adem Gümrükçüler: (Art Director), Sinan Çoban: (Stage & Costume Designer), Yiğit Yeşildağ: (Mixing & Mastering), Şeyma Türk: (Cover Art), Adnan Dura: (Compositions, Saxophone)