Beats By Girlz Turkey and the British Council’s ‘My City, My Voice’ project, which was first launched in 2021 as part of the WOW – Women’s World Festival Istanbul, once again pursued the inspiring voices of this geography in its second edition last year and crossed paths with 15 female musicians from Istanbul, Izmir, Gaziantep and Diyarbakır. ‘My City, Voice’, an artist development project for women musicians at the beginning of their careers, is preparing to set off for its third edition. This year, Ankara from Turkey and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia from the Balkans will be added to the programme’s route.
From Turkey to the Balkans: City stories from women musicians
‘My City, My Voice’ aims to enable young female musicians to create their own music inspired by the sounds of the cities they live in. Although each song produced within the scope of this programme is based on an individual story, it also presents a cross-section of the daily and collective life of that city. While the cities are transformed into songs accompanied by the sounds inspired by the musicians, the whole production process is turned into a documentary and a narrative that spreads across different platforms, both audio and visual, emerges.
Having explored the voices and stories of cities in Turkey in its first two editions, ‘My City, My Voice’ is expanding its borders this year and listening to the voices of Balkan cities that shape the dynamics of this geography with their history and culture as well as Turkey. A five-month programme from November 2023 to March 2024, ‘My City, My Voice’ will be open to all young women from Ankara in Turkey and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia in the Balkans who are sound designers, instrumentalists or vocalists at the beginning of their careers.
The programme will be curated by Istanbul-based musician, music producer and sound designer Beril Sarıaltun, who is also the founder of Beats By Girlz Turkey, in partnership with Brighter Sound, a Manchester-based alternative music initiative. The training topics in the ‘My City, My Voice’ programme are as follows: Sound Design, Music Production, Artist Wellbeing, Brand Creation for Artists, Music Publishing Strategies for Artists. The 20 people who will be selected as a result of the applications will learn the basic principles of sound design through online workshops and mentoring sessions and design their own songs with the sounds they record in selected areas of their cities. The original compositions of the participants who will work together throughout the programme will be included in the first album of ‘My City, My Voice’, which will be released on digital music channels in March 2024. Applications for the ‘My City, My Voice’ programme can be made until Monday, 23 October.
The announcement of the musicians selected for the programme will be made on 25 October. The first event of ‘My City, My Voice’ will be held as part of the Beats By Girlz Turkey Festival, which will be organised for the second time this year. Following the seminar and workshop programme to be held in November and December, the programme will come together with its participants in two different cities, Kosovo and Ankara, in the studio in January, and the first live performance of the programme will be held on 2 – 3 March within the scope of WOW – World Women’s Festival Istanbul.
Applications for the programme are still open via the websites of Beats By Girlz Turkey and British Council Turkey.
