Zelisah Kizilkan

Zelisah Kizilkan

Zelişah, born in 1995, is a Turkish artist with roots in the Zazaki minority. Residing in Istanbul, she’s both a skilled instrumentalist, playing the Duduk and Anatolian Kamança, and a versatile vocalist, singing in Turkish, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Zazaki, Kurdish, Greek, and Balkan languages. She pursued ethnomusicology at Istanbul University, further enriching her cross-cultural perspective.

Zelişah’s focus in working international musicians, like Chilean artists Tomás Carrasco Gubernatis & Moa Edmunds Guevara for the Kurdish song “Le le Rihe,” and French artist Richard Laniepce with Kurdelem from Kolektif Istanbul.

Zelişah has graced Turkish National Television on “Sesler Alemi” and shared her artistry online through “PortakalAltı Kayıtları” with Cem Erdost Ileri. Her performances have spanned notable events, including the IKSV Jazz Festival with Jazz Band NEFSAZ.

Zelişah’s music serves as a bridge between cultures, embodying unity through her diverse talents.

"At Eleusis, one realises, if never before, that there is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy. At Eleusis, one becomes adapted to the cosmos. Outwardly Eleusis may seem broken, disintegrated with the crumbled past; actually, Eleusis is still intact and it is we who are broken, dispersed, crumbling to dust. Eleusis lives; lives eternally in the midst of a dying world."
Henry Miller

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