Concert | Welcome to Kreuzberg!
SEYYARE Anatolian Women’s Choir
Seyyare Anatolian Women’s Choir © Ute Langkafel (MAIFOTO)
On the occasion of the festival day Welcome to Kreuzberg!, the SEYYARE Anatolian Women’s Choir, a multilingual women’s choir between Anatolia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Berlin, will present a musical programme in the atrium of Gropius Bau. The choir draws on the tradition of Turkish workers’ choirs in West Berlin, combining it with multilingual songs about memory, solidarity and communal life.
The SEYYARE Anatolian Women’s Choir was founded in early 2024 through collective singing at the funeral of Filiz Taşkın (1944–2024), a prominent Kreuzberg activist and witness to the history of labour migration. Under the artistic direction of Sema Moritz, the choir brings together around 20 women who perform folk songs from Anatolia, the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East in their original languages. SEYYARE premiered on International Women’s Day 2025 at Maxim Gorki Theater. Since then, the choir has developed into an independent musical collective that understands music as a living archive – a space where memories, languages and stories are carried across generations.
Sema Moritz is a singer, storyteller and musical researcher. Living between Berlin and Istanbul, she has worked for more than four decades at the intersection of music, memory and artistic freedom. She understands music as a space for encounter, autonomy and collective remembrance.
Sema Moritz – Artistic Director
Martin Lillich – Bass
Serkan Duran – Bouzouki, Bağlama
Cevat Maskar – Percussion
Asmin Su Kök, Ayşe Berrin Konuralp, Barbara Basile, Betül Fırat, Dilara Pak, Dilek Ölçüm, Eda Aylin Doğanay, Gözde Böcü, Gülüzar Mertin, Hülya Ede-Uçta, Kebire Yücesan Friebel, Meltem Schulze, Nebahat Başbolat, Necla Deniz, Selda Şakar, Selver Mersin, Sermin Doğanay, Suna Kök – Choir
As part of Berlin Art Week
During the event, photographs and video recordings may be made in which you may be recognisable. By attending, you consent to these recordings being used to communicate the event or exhibition.