Choose artist...

Top 10 for Feb

In dialogue with her own lyrics, Defne Sahin's sophisticated concept pulls Emily Dickinson's words into her orbit / Elsewhere

Born, raised and based in Berlin, composer and songwriter Defne Sahin has established herself in the international music scene with her unique, cosmopolitan sound that seamlessly blends Jazz, Pop and Turkish music. As the daughter of Turkish immigrants and influenced by her experiences living between New York, Barcelona and Istanbul, Defne Sahin is a shapeshifter who connects multiple worlds and cultures through her music. She sets herself apart with her versatile and eclectic storytelling rooted in her multicultural background, allowing her to effortlessly bridge genres. Her upcoming album Hope (2023) takes listeners on a musical journey through Emily Dickinson’s poems pairing them with her own evocative compositions and lyrics, creating a modern and enchanting song cycle.

Drawing from her experiences as an immigrant woman, Defne Sahin’s music addresses a wide range of emotions and stories by skilfully merging poetry, lyrics and music. In her first album Yasamak (2011), Defne Sahin sets the poetry of Turkish regime dissident Nâzim Hikmet to music, engaging with his political life and his time in exile. Unravel (2016), which was produced by the highly esteemed pianist and composer Guillermo Klein in New York, is a captivating exploration of her personal life in the Big Apple, conveyed through her evocative compositions, profound lyrics and silky voice. Defne Sahin’s third album Hope (2023) is a deep dialogue with Dickinson’s poetry and reflects on universal themes such as life and death, love and longing, fear and hope and ultimately release. The album was composed under the mentorship of Grammy nominee Becca Stevens.

Since her debut, Defne Sahin has graced jazz stages and festivals around the globe, including Carnegie Hall in New York, JazzFest Berlin, and the TV show "Lebenslieder" by Max Mutzke on Germany’s first national TV channel ARD. She has performed alongside the likes of Elias Stemeseder, Marike van Dijk, Shai Maestro, Guy Mintus, Joe Sanders, Jay Clayton and Anthony Braxton. Her accomplishments have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, grants and artist residencies from institutions like the Deutscher Musikrat, Initiative Musik, and the Goethe Institute.

Defne Sahin studied vocal jazz at the Universität der Künste Berlin and the Escola Superior de Musica Barcelona. She earned her Master of Music degree in Vocal Jazz Performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York in 2014 under renowned names such as Theo Bleckmann and Gretchen Parlato. Her studies were supported with scholarships from the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, and the Manhattan School of Music. In 2016, she was an artist in residence at the Kulturakademie Tarabya of the German Federal Foreign Office in Istanbul. She is also a sought-after vocal coach and has taught at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden. Defne Sahin continues to push the conventional boundaries of jazz as a music educator, guest speaker and jury member of various commissions.


Elsewhere writes….To some small extent local listeners might have been down this narrow path previously with Matthew Bannister (as One Man Bannister) setting of some Emily Dickinson poems to music on his album The Saddest Noise.

Bannister's project was a folk/pop album taking Dickinson's words into his songs, this album by Berlin-raised jazz singer Sahin (of Turkish parents) is a much more sophisticated conception because – with six-piece band behind her – she pulls the poet's words into her orbit but also writes her own lyrics to create a kind of dialogue across a century and a half.

It is ambitious but like Bannister she taps into the solitary and often lonely nature of Dickson's world and work.

Seemingly also inspired by Joni Mitchell's poetic lyrics which bend around melodies and rhythmic structure (and perhaps a little of Rickie Lee Jones' languid delivery), Sahin creates an intimate song cycle with the band sometimes settling on discreet repeated phrases as on Have You Got A Brook In Your Little Heart (we capitalise the poem/song titles, Dickinson was idiosyncratic in this regard!) which the singer can sit atop and lean out from.

Sometimes there is a clear jazz-pop ethic at work (the Latin-tinged Let Go) or a nudge towards pop-fusion (There's a Certain Slant of Light) but the standouts are Hope Is A Thing With Feathers and Tie the Strings To My Life where she and the band weave two songs of six and a half minutes into engrossing and unhurried magic.

One for those who appreciate contemporary jazz vocals, and you needn't know anything much about Dickinson. Although it helps, of course.

SEE THE Elsewhere PAGE