Waalwijk meets Anatolia

On April 6, 2025, Theater De Leest will celebrate Anatolian culture with the festival "Waalwijk meets Anatolia. An afternoon full of music, cabaret, stories and encounters!

In the foyer is a pop-up exhibition including portraits of first generation Turkish migrants and their stories and there is a photobooth where portraits can be made.

Tijdens het festival wordt het project de Zijderoute naar Waalwijk (door ManawahArt) feestelijk afgesloten met de veiling van een kunstwerk door kunstenaar Petra Downs.

Young artist Emin Batman (24) will present the festival and music will be provided by singer and saz player Bilal Atabey (including music by Neset Ertas) & by the 4-piece band "Music From The Orient. There will also be a performance by cabaret performer Nilgün Yerli.

Guests are welcome from 1 p.m. in De Leest's foyer for the pop-up exhibition, photobooth and delicious Turkish coffee and tea. The program in the Theater Hall starts at 2 p.m.

Artists:

Music from the Orient performs the rich musical heritage from the Eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, the Levant and the Balkans. Founded in 2017 in Eindhoven as a project of Mercan & Bülent Kocuroǧlu, Başak Ebret and Önder Babur, Music from the Orient covers a wide range of musical styles and languages, including Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Greek, Ladino and languages from the Balkans. Music from the Orient aims to connect people from different backgrounds and cultures, and has already organized many multicultural events, especially in Eindhoven, but also in the rest of the Netherlands.

Bilal Atabey has been a singer and saz player for many years. He sings and plays music of the well-known Turkish Folk singer Neset Ertas and also composes his own songs. These are generally melancholic songs of life. The style originates from Central Anatolia.
A saz is a Turkish stringed instrument also called "divan bağlama" (divan= a larger size lute). Translated into Dutch, this instrument is also sometimes called an acoustic langnekluit

Nilgün Yerli is a Dutch writer and cabaret performer and programmer. She was born in Turkey. When she was 10 she came to the Netherlands, initially living in Heerenveen in Friesland, later living in Amsterdam.
In her life she has emigrated to Istanbul, New York and London, but nowhere does she feel as at home as in Amsterdam. In other words, Nilgun Yerli is back in the Netherlands, in the theater and especially with herself.

Emin Batman is an interdisciplinary artist, architect and content creator based in Amsterdam. His diverse works include photography, film and architecture and address themes of identity, migration, interculturalism and spirituality.
Batman's latest projects include Between Tompouce and Baklava, an intersectional exploration of migrant identity. He is also working on the Kervan, a mobile artist in residence that conducts workshops to put mental health and the idea of belonging on the agenda.
Memento Diem (2023), a video installation about the earthquake in Turkey, and the House of All (2023), an architectural pavilion inspired by a mosque, church and synagogue are also part of his latest work. Both have been exhibited at the Van Gogh Museum.
Batman's passion lies in connecting people from different cultures and celebrating similarities, through his artistic creations.