As autumn arrives, Istanbul’s music and performance venues are coming back to life with a vibrant lineup ranging from jazz to electronic, indie to world music. September and October mark one of the city’s most dynamic cultural periods, with venues releasing their new-season schedules and festivals filling the calendar.
Among the first to open its doors is Salon İKSV, which launched its season with Surprise Chef (Sept 20) and Caroline Rose (Sept 25). Its fall program features 15 concerts, including standout names like Ahmed Fakroun, who fuses traditional Arab melodies with synth-pop, groove, disco, and funk.
Blind, another key Beyoğlu venue, is preparing to welcome UK shoegaze/dream pop band Bdrmm — their Istanbul debut after a postponed spring concert.
Long-running music festivals also shape the season’s rhythm:
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The 35th Akbank Jazz Festival brings jazz, R&B, hip hop, and indie artists to stages, art spaces, and clubs across the city.
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Pulse Festival at JJ Arena features Nouvelle Vague, known for bossa nova renditions of post-punk classics.
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Istanbul hosts its first Sonica Festival, a four-day visual-audio and sonic arts event at Babylon, headlined by experimental electronic producer Rival Consoles.
Highlights from the Concert Calendar
ELI & FUR
6 September – Klein Phönix
London-based DJ/producers Eliza Nobel and Jennifer Skillman rose to fame in 2012 with their breakout track You Are So High, which hit five million YouTube views and fueled a U.S. tour. They blend house and techno with touches of R&B, pop, and garage. Their latest single Make Believe follows their 2023 album Dreamscapes.
CAROLINE ROSE
25 September – Salon İKSV
Known for her independent stance against mainstream streaming platforms, Rose released her 2024 album year of the slug exclusively on Bandcamp. After exploring folk and country early in her career, she shifted toward pop-rock with Loner (2018) and Superstar (2020). Her album The Art of Forgetting earned a 2024 Grammy nomination for cover design.
BDRMM
28 September – Blind
Hull-based shoegaze and dream pop band Bdrmm gained acclaim with their debut Bedroom (2020), blending heavy guitar effects with melodic textures inspired by My Bloody Valentine and Ride. Their second album I Don’t Know(2023) expanded into ambient, electronic, and krautrock sounds. Their latest release Microtonic (Feb 2025) signals sonic evolution, with NME and Crack praising their growth.
TAMINO
8 October – KüçükÇiftlik Park
Belgian-Egyptian singer-songwriter Tamino returns to Istanbul, where his fan base keeps growing. His debut album Amir (2018) earned BBC acclaim and the nickname “the new voice of the Nile.” Tamino combines Arab music traditions with folk, inspired by his grandfather, Egyptian singer Muharram Fouad. His 2022 album Sahar centered the oud and took him on an extensive world tour, including a Turkish leg.
AHMED FAKROUN
10 October – Salon İKSV
A pioneer of modern Arab music, Fakroun blends traditional Libyan melodies with funk, groove, and synth sounds. After years limited by sanctions, he returned to the international scene thanks to DJs and record collectors rediscovering his work, now appearing at major European festivals.
BLACK COFFEE
11 October – Zorlu PSM
South African DJ/producer Black Coffee (Nkosinathi Innocent Maphumulo) combines jazz, R&B, and Afro house. He launched his career with the 2005 self-titled debut on his Soulistic label and rose to global fame with hits like Drive(with David Guetta and Delilah Montagu). His Grammy-winning album Subconsciously (2021) confirmed his place in electronic music. His latest single Trippy Yeah (with Jimi Jules) dropped in June 2025.
COSMIC CROONER
12 November – Babylon
Known for 70s-inspired guitar tones and poetic lyrics, Cosmic Crooner drew attention with singles like Temo di Filippoand Reflexopolis. His debut album The Perks of Being a Hypocrite (2023) introduced his retro cinematic sound. He returns to Istanbul with his latest release European Vacation (March 2025).
Key Festivals
AKBANK JAZZ FESTIVAL
27 September – 12 October | Various Venues
Celebrating its 35th year, Akbank Jazz Festival hosts leading jazz virtuosos plus R&B, hip hop, and indie artists. Highlights include RYMDEN (Bugge Wesseltoft, Magnus Öström, Dan Berglund), Eliane Elias, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martinez, dark jazz pioneers Bohren und der Club of Gore, and Mongolian singer-composer Enji. Venues span from Yeldeğirmeni Sanat Merkezi and Müze Gazhane to Arter, Babylon, Zorlu PSM, and more.
PULSE FESTIVAL
27 September – JJ Arena Ataşehir
Jolly Joker’s new Ataşehir venue hosts Nouvelle Vague — famous for bossa nova interpretations of post-punk and new wave classics like Love Will Tear Us Apart and Blue Monday. The group returns with their latest album Should I Stay or Should I Go? while member Mélanie Pain will also perform solo.
SONICA FESTIVAL
1–4 October – Babylon
Launched in Glasgow in 2012 by Cryptic, Sonica comes to Istanbul for the first time with four days of cutting-edge audiovisual and sonic art. Headlined by Rival Consoles, known for analog sound design and releases on Erased Tapes Records, the lineup includes Halina Rice, Taahliah, Robbie Thomson, Neko3, Martin Messier, Konx-Om-Pax, Tatsuru Arai, Non Square, and Koi Failure.
With its blend of concerts, genre-bending performances, and forward-thinking festivals, Istanbul’s autumn season promises a rich soundscape across the city’s most iconic venues.
