Emine Bostancı

Emine Bostancı is an award-winning classical kemenche performer, composer and academician. Her passion for music has invigorated her to cultivate the arts of singing and performing the Cretan Lyra with sympathetic strings.

Emine started her music education from a young age in Istanbul. She studied classical kemenche and obtained her Bachelor’s degree as top of her department in Ottoman-Turkish Classical Music. Meanwhile she combined this study with Musicology. In the same period, she learned how to build a kemenche to explore her instrument more intimately by assisting one of the most renowned luthiers of Istanbul. In pursue of an international music career, she moved to the Netherlands for her MA study at Codarts. Afterwards she worked as a fellow researcher at University of Leiden. Currently, she is carrying out a PhD research on the experimental works in Ottoman-Turkish instrumental makam music, at the University of Amsterdam.

When she first encountered the kemenche, she was shaken by a certainty: this sound was as close as she would ever get to hearing the sound of the divine. She has dedicated the rest of her life to embodying the fathomless sound of the kemenche, shaping her search for meaning in this life. This has led to a life enriched by sharing the gift of music with inspirational artists from every corner of the world.

Emine founded the Mundus Quartet where she combines the heritage of timeless traditions stemming from the broad world of the contemporary modal, makam and Sufi music originated from the Silk Road. With Dareyn she combines the mystical sound of the kemenche and the deep-rooted sound of the cello played by Maya Fridman in a contemporary fashion.