Merve Kenet Bulun with other QPO musicians.
Merve Kenet Bulun’s musical journey is a sweetly euphonious piece. A top viola player from Istanbul, she armed herself with the best education from the finest teachers in the world before coming to Doha, her sheet music is fastidious.
She created a sparse soundscape for viola, a truly majestic music bringing her knowledge to thousands of her performances all over the world.
This once “Young Musician of the Year” awarded by the Istanbul state created a high note of the classical musical scene in this Peninsula.
Merve is a viola player of Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) and was among the 101 QPO musicians who was invited to live in Doha after a crucial audition where 3,700 musicians played to be part of the orchestra. Fourteen years had passed since that very first audition happened.
Speaking with Merve is very natural, ethereal in that manner. Her career is an opaque field of colours, soothing to the ears, harmonious and elegantly translated. At a very young age, she knew music is embedded in her, she narrated how music played the tune in her life.
“We had an old piano at our home. The tuning of the piano was horrible, but we had it in the middle of the living room and I was organising lots of concerts for my teddy bears and dolls. My brother was playing the violin and practicing a lot after school. And I was trying to imitate him on this piano which had wrong tuning while singing very difficult songs too.”
“My primary school teacher told my parents that I should take the auditions for state conservatory and if I am chosen, I could go to a music school like my brother and have proper music education.”
“After I was accepted at the Istanbul State Conservatory, they offered me to study Harp or Flute. But I wanted to play a string instrument like my brother, preferably the violin. But after I heard the beautiful voice of the viola, I changed my mind and choose it as my main instrument.”
Merve Kenet Bulun.
Voila the viola! Her relationship with the string instrument played the rhythm of her dedication to the music industry. From a family of musicians, her father who plays the drums and her brother who plays the violin and piano, Merve’s harmony is a multilayered work of art. What strikes me during the interview is how she described music.
“Music is not only important; music is the life itself. Music is almost parallel with human history. We have made music since prehistoric times. The most natural language is the music itself. I cannot imagine the world without music because it is the best medicine for our souls and hearts.”
Her deep relationship with music also led to the creation of CineMoon Ensemble, a member of QPO. She is the founder and director of the group which started in 2013. CineMoon became increasingly versatile and popular performing in numerous venues, presented in various configurations and settings expanding up to an orchestra of 40 musicians in its full formation, all selected members from within the prestigious QPO.
It is a vibrant and unique ensemble that delivers their art soulfully to people of extreme diversity and walks of life, bridges the gap between classical music, visual arts and world music with an emphasis on film scores, family entertainment and youth education.
Recently, the group performed with US Air Force Central Band where they played the most iconic and popular Broadway musicals between 1957 to 2004 where Merve worked on for eight months. She also led the QPO project together with Sherborne Qatar wherein they recreated the “Peter and the Wolf” through a video creation. This is symphonic fairy tale for children written by Sergie Prokofiev aimed to introduce children to the individual instruments of the orchestra using different art forms.
She has a deep connection with children. And she explained to us why it is crucial for children to know classical musical. Merve said this vocation was rooted “long time ago.”
“I am a very happy child, thanks to my parents. There is one of the oldest city part of Istanbul which they built after Mehmet the Conquerer. In this place there is a very famous mosque, Eyub Sultan Mosque. During Ramadan, they hold various activities like puppet theaters, Karagoz Shadow Puppets where I watched. I have also listened to special concerts where they use traditional instruments like the oud, kanun, and violin. And I was hoping one day I will part of it.”
“Today, we are living in an age of speed. We can reach everything very fast. But everything is consumed so quick and children were also affected by this.
Having lived in the 80s, I feel the tremendous difference of the lives during my time and now. That’s why I feel that I am responsible for the future children, classical music or any kind of art are crucial for them. This is for their emotional development and intellectual education. With classical music, they will receive vast information and will help them for brain development.”
And more than a musician, she is a writer where she recently released the book Curious Desert Dweller published by the Katara Publishing House. This work is a testament of her love for the young.
“The very special desert animals are the main characters in my book and within an adventure, they discover the oldest instrument in the world and learn the orchestra instruments by scanning the barcode available on the first page. The 20 videos were played and recorded by QPO. The book has a song “The Sound of the Desert” composed by Qatari singer Nasser Sahim.”
The book’s success was seen as the second edition will be printed soon. Moreover, it was also published in Turkey in Turkish language and the Curious Desert Dweller was also chosen by music teachers as an educational material.
Musical instruments speak when you can’t find the right words to say.
“You can speak through the instrument and tell together happy or sad stories. Learning a musical instrument is like having a trustworthy friend for your whole life. I strongly recommend for the children to learn an instrument, it will help so much for their hand coordination, brain development and intelligence improvement.”
Currently, she is now working on an animation project where she wrote the screenplay. “It is about Mozart and his iconic composition Turkish March. I am also planning for another family and children musical and working on the text wherein the last one was Mozart which is a musical sitcom. This time, I chose a historical character form Islamic medieval world and working on the music and text for the next season. And, I am also planning to have a music festival at my hometown in Kusadasi.”
Asked what is her favourite musical piece, she said: “This is a difficult question. Since I am very attached to the history and tales, for me one of the most powerful orchestral piece written is Sheherazade, composed by Rimsky Korsakov based on 1001 Nights Stories.”
She explained her greatest achievement is a collection of her experiences – soloist with orchestras, a chamber musician, an orchestra musician as solo and tutti, teaching and giving masterclasses, and the CineMoon.
“If you are a soloist in front of an orchestra, the orchestra has to adopt the style of the soloist and soloist voice is more against the orchestra. The orchestra is a huge body which acts together but soloist is alone. It is like a dance between a giant and a bird and is very sensitive. But if you play as an orchestra musician, your role is totally different. In this case, like our body parts, every person has a different role but should be in a harmony, the sound the orchestra produces should come as if it is coming only from one person - united and melted together.”
Merve’s œuvre can be compared to chimes. It has a clear sound of yearning, passion and an ensemble of notes combined to feel peace and calmness.
A word of advise from this great musician who is a dreamer who likes to write stories, a person who has a big passion for music, a professional musician who tries to express her thoughts and feelings through a musical instrument, a daughter discovered by her parents and given the right education, a lucky mother who is blessed having two wonderful children and a cat who loves to listen to her music while practicing, and simply a music lover who thinks the best music is the sound of nature.
“And please always remember, without sounds, the world and universe could not have any meaning because music is the soul of all of it.”
