Didem Basar

Born into a family steeped in music, kanun player and composer Didem Başar started her music education at Istanbul Turkish Music State Concervatory when she was 11 years old.

After completing the Conservatory’s kanun program, she continued her training at the same institution and received her Bachelor’s Degree in composition. Her interest in examining the effects of art on society led her to pursue a Master’s Degree on the musical analysis of Mevlevi Music at Marmara University. She gave lectures on Turkish music and kanun playing techniques at Haliç University’s Turkish Music Conservatory and Istanbul University State Conservatory from 2001 until she moved to Canada in 2007.

After composing and playing with different artists and the ensembles for the past 15 years, she wanted to create her own project, which would intertwine two musical influences: Turkish and Western classical music.

The dialog she created between the kanun and the western classical instruments immediately attracted the attention of the Quebec music community and the album was nominated for the album of the year prize not only by the Association Quebecoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) but also by the Conseil Quebecois de la Music. In 2021 the interest aroused by the Album brought the award of the Album de l’année at the 24e Prix Opus Competition in the category of the Musiques du Monde et Musique Traditionnelle Québécoise.