Derya Yıldırım joins us in performance through Live at The Lock-Up during her solo creative development period.

Drawing on Anatolian folk traditions and contemporary music practice, Derya Yıldırım will explore new techniques, expand the expressive possibilities of the Bağlama, and consolidate ideas that reflect her cultural heritage and evolving musical language. The residency provides space to experiment, develop new material, and engage with the local community through an informal sharing or performance, fostering cultural exchange and deeper insight into her multidisciplinary practice.

Exclusive Muloobinba/Newcastle solo performance
Wed, 18 Mar 2026

Bar open from 6.30pm
Exhibition A soft space to stand open for viewing
Duration 60 mins

Get Tickets

ABOUT DERYA YILDIRIM

With her voice and bağlama, Derya Yıldırım brings traditional Anatolian folk music into innovative new forms, performing worldwide. She studied at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg (2013–2016), before completing her bağlama degree with Taner Akyol at the Berlin University of the Arts in 2020. Since 2024, she has taught bağlama at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg.

Alongside her internationally based group Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek, she has released several albums blending Anatolian folk songs with elements of psychedelia, jazz and soul. Their third album, Yarın Yoksa (“If There Is No Tomorrow”), produced in New York by Leon Michels (El Michels Affair), was released on Big Crown Records in 2025 and celebrated with a concert at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall, featuring Ensemble Resonanz.

As a solo artist, Yıldırım explores the expressive and technical range of the bağlama, presenting Anatolian folk music in concert spaces where it is rarely heard. She also works across interdisciplinary projects, film scoring and sound art, highlighting the bağlama as a bridge between tradition and contemporary expression.

Her work has been recognised with nominations for the German Music Prize Polytone and the VIA! Award.