Music Festival Warms Up a Fall Weekend

BY CÜNEYT YILMAZ (ECON/IV)

Rock stars are usually reluctant to rock in autumn, especially when it looks and acts more like winter. Wind, rain and maybe even snow might be okay for a young and lively university audience, but a band probably wouldn't agree. My fellow columnist Burak usually writes about music festivals that are in the summer, because obviously, there aren't many worth mentioning in these cooler days...or so
you would think. But no--that's not true at Bilkent.

Bilkent Dünya Müzik Festivali, organized by Kültür ve İletişim Topluluðu and Usta ve Çırak Organizasyon, spanned three days from October 14 to 16 and included artists from all over the world, as the name itself suggests (Bilkent World Music Fest, that is). Coming from countries that ranged from Brazil to Hungary, the collection of artists who performed did in fact make this a real world music festival, not just another rock event. This audiovisual feast also featured artists who are Bilkent graduates (e.g., Cem Adrian) and bands consisting of undergraduate Bilkenters, such as Erdem Ocak and Renk, as well as better-known bands such as İncesaz and Jehan Barbur.

Last but not least, the festival was free for disabled people and children under 12. "Awesome!" I can hear you say.