Kaş Jazz Festival returns to Setur Kaş Marina from August 28 to 30 under the theme ‘Roots and Migrations.’ Julia Biel, Michel Godard, Jembaa Groove, Anıl Şallıel, Şenay Lambaoğlu, Öner Karaçuha Quartet, Feride Hakim Quintet, Coşkun Karademir Trio and Homeland will bring together different musical memories extending from Anatolia and the Middle East to Europe and West Africa.
In its eighth year, the Kaş Jazz Festival brings together, within a single programme, the sounds jazz has absorbed from different geographies and the ways those sounds have evolved over time, rather than building its programme around a single understanding of the genre. Taking place at Setur Kaş Marina from August 28 to 30, 2026, the festival takes ‘Roots and Migrations’ as its theme. Supported by MarineERA, the programme combines concerts with talks on music, history, archaeology, maritime culture and record collecting, as well as a sunrise event, warm-up performances and after-parties continuing into the night. The August 28 programme features Barış Demirel, Şenay Lambaoğlu Quartet and Julia Biel; August 29 brings Öner Karaçuha Quartet, Anıl Şallıel’s “166 Days” featuring Deniz Taşar, and Jembaa Groove; while August 30 features Coşkun Karademir Trio’s “Folk’n’Jazz”, Michel Godard Trio and Homeland.
A Three-Day Jazz Programme
The daytime programme of the Kaş Jazz Festival addresses the “Roots and Migrations” theme not only through concert repertoire but also through different disciplines. At MarineERA Resto Bar on August 28, Prof. Dr. Erol Murat Yıldız will present “Traces of Time,” while Julia Biel will take part in “Roots and Migrations: The Geography of Sound.” On August 29, Setur Marina Manager Ahmet Ertürk and Prof. Dr. Havva İşkan will discuss “Lighthouses and Ports: A Journey to the Roots,” while Hakan Atala will explore record culture and jazz history in “The History of Lale Plak: Jazz, People and Musical Connections.” On August 30, Michel Godard will join a discussion titled “Roots and Migrations: Ancient Breaths, Melodies Beyond Time and the Memory of the Land,” while Derya Türkan and Hakan Atala will address the festival theme through music. The daytime programme places jazz within a broader framework of history, geography, movement and cultural memory.
The concert programme opens on Friday, August 28. At 7:30 p.m., Barış Demirel will perform, followed at 8:30 p.m. by Şenay Lambaoğlu Quartet, featuring Lambaoğlu on vocals, Tolga Bedir on piano, Eylem Pelit on bass and Turgut Alp Bekoğlu on drums. At 10:30 p.m., Julia Biel will take the stage with Idris Rahman on saxophone and backing vocals, Matěj Černý on double bass and Pharoah Russell on drums.
On Saturday, August 29, Öner Karaçuha Quartet will perform at 7:30 p.m. Karaçuha will be on drums, joined by Oğuzcan Bilgin on trumpet, Ayberk Güngör on keyboards and synthesizer, and Enver Ferah on bass guitar. At 8:30 p.m., Anıl Şallıel’s “166 Days” featuring Deniz Taşar will take the stage, with Taşar on vocals, Şallıel on saxophone, Mustafa Koray Üsgülen on keyboards, Enver Muhamedi on bass and Ekin Cengizkan on drums. At 10:30 p.m., Jembaa Groove will perform, featuring Eric Owusu on percussion and vocals, Peter Ntiri Somuah on trumpet, Godwin Vata Sonzi on electric guitar, Yannick Nolting on bass guitar and Nir Tom Sabag on drums.
Sunday, August 30, begins at 7:30 p.m. with Coşkun Karademir Trio – “Folk’n’Jazz”, featuring Coşkun Karademir, Selen Gülün and Robert Mehmet İkiz. At 8:30 p.m., Michel Godard Trio will perform, with Godard on serpent, tuba and bass guitar, Ihab Radwan on oud and Derya Türkan on kemenche. The festival will close at 10:30 p.m. with Homeland, featuring Serkan Çağrı on clarinet, Tuluğ Tırpan on piano and keyboards, Mehmet Özen on bass guitar and Mehmet Akatay on drums and percussion.
In addition to the daytime programme, the festival will continue into the night with after-parties supported by MarineERA. The sunrise event and daytime talks are free, while daily and combined tickets are available for the concerts.
Julia Biel: Where Song Meets Jazz
Julia Biel, one of the international names on this year’s programme, brings together her identities as vocalist, composer, songwriter and pianist within the same musical practice. She studied French and German at the University of Oxford and began making music with Idris Rahman during her university years. Initially working as a pianist, Biel later placed her voice at the centre of her career. In 2000, she won the ‘Perrier Young Jazz Vocalist of the Year’ award and subsequently became part of London’s F-IRE Collective, a creative music community associated with a new generation of British jazz and improvisation.
Biel’s debut album, “Not Alone”, was released in 2005. It was followed by the “Nobody Loves You Like I Do” EP and the 2015 album “Love Letters and Other Missiles”, which earned her a MOBO Awards nomination for ‘Best Jazz Act’. Her self-titled album Julia Biel followed in 2018. In 2020, Biel released Black and White, Vol. 1, an album consisting entirely of solo vocal and piano recordings, with the artist accompanying herself throughout.
Her discography extends beyond her solo work. Biel appeared on Polar Bear’s Dimlit and contributed to recordings by Soothsayers. She also worked with Ben Watt on “Guinea Pig” and with Stimming and Ben Watt on “Bright Star.” In 2019, at Bob Dylan’s invitation, she performed ahead of Dylan’s concert at the Jazzopen Festival in Stuttgart. In 2024, Biel received support from Germany’s Initiative Musik for a new and, according to the artist, more extensive musical project. She continued working on new music following that support.
In Kaş, Biel will perform on vocals, piano and keyboards with Idris Rahman, Matěj Černý and Pharoah Russell. Her appearance at the festival also includes the daytime talk “The Geography of Sound.”
Julia Biel (Photo: internet/unknown)
Michel Godard: “The Serpent” in Jazz
Michel Godard’s presence in Kaş is one of the clearest examples of the musical relationship established by the festival with its “Roots and Migrations” theme. Born in Héricourt, France, in 1960, Godard is known as a tuba player and, in particular, as a performer on the serpent. Historically important in the development of wind instruments, the serpent has, through Godard’s work, moved beyond its early-music context into contemporary improvisation and jazz.
Godard joined the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 18. He later worked with ensembles in classical music, early music and contemporary improvisation, including the Orchestre National de Jazz. He has taught the serpent at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique since 2002.
His discography spans several decades and includes works such as “Le Chant du Serpent”, “Aborigène”,” Sous Les Voûtes, Le Serpent…”, “Castel del Monte”, “Castel del Monte II: Pietre di Luce”, “Cousins Germains”, “Impertinance”, “Archangelica”, “Le Concert des Parfums”, “Ivresses”, “Monteverdi”, “Three Seasons”, “Stupor Mundi” and “Awakening”, both as a leader and co-leader.
His collaborations with Rabih Abou-Khalil form another important part of his musical output. “The Sultan’s Picnic”, “Arabian Waltz”, “Odd Times”, “The Cactus of Knowledge”, “Morton’s Foot”, “Songs for Sad Women”, “Em Português and Trouble in Jerusalem” are among the projects associated with this collaboration. Godard has also worked extensively with improvisers including Pierre Favre and Samo Salamon.
As a composer, Godard has received commissions from Radio France, the Donaueschingen Music Festival and the French Ministry of Culture. In Kaş, he will bring the multicultural character of his work into a trio with oud player Ihab Radwan and kemenche player Derya Türkan. The serpent, oud and kemenche will meet within the same musical setting.
Anıl Şallıel: The Journey of “166 Days”
One of the productive saxophonists on Turkey’s jazz scene, Anıl Şallıel is coming to Kaş with “166 Days”, one of the central projects of his career. Released on November 8, 2019, Şallıel’s debut solo album “166 Days” was issued by Lin Records and consists of seven tracks with a running time of approximately 40 minutes. The album grew out of a period in which Şallıel spent 166 days moving between cities and waking up in a different place almost every day.
The album includes “Intro,” “Arap Kadri,” “Dafi,” “166 Days,” “Nefes,” “Türk Caz Musikisi” and “O.S.L.O.” The core line-up features Tolga Erzurumlu on piano, Cahit Kutrafalı on bass guitar and Ekin Cengizkan on drums. Guests include Cenk Erdoğan, Önder Focan, Furkan Bilgi, Hüsnü Şenlendirici, Deniz Taşar, Batu Şallıel, Hasan Gözetlik, Mustafa İpekçioğlu and Memduh Akatay. “Türk Caz Musikisi” is one of the tracks that connects the album’s jazz language directly with Turkey’s local musical memory.
Şallıel’s work extends beyond “166 Days”. He has been involved in projects including What Da Funk, Şallıel Bros and Funkbook, while continuing to release singles and collaborations. His catalogue includes 2024 releases such as “Sevince,” “İhanetten Geri Kalan” and “İstanbul’da Sonbahar,” as well as the 2026 single “Çengi-harbi.”
In Kaş, Deniz Taşar will perform vocals on 166 Days, joined by Mustafa Koray Üsgülen on keyboards, Enver Muhamedi on bass and Ekin Cengizkan on drums. The project’s relationship between jazz and Turkey’s different musical sources will thus be carried onto the stage with a new line-up.
Anıl Şallıel (Photo: internet/unknown)
Şenay Lambaoğlu: Turkish Lyrics and Jazz
Şenay Lambaoğlu is among the Turkish jazz artists who work as composers and songwriters as well as vocalists. Born in Kiel, Germany, she began her musical studies in a school choir and orchestra. She studied musical theatre and drama at Pera Fine Arts Academy and later pursued further education in Istanbul. From the late 1990s onward, she worked with musicians in Istanbul’s jazz scene and also studied voice in Boston.
Her debut solo album, “İçimde Aşk Var”, was released in 2012. The 2014 album “Zarf Tümleci” further established her Turkish-language jazz approach. The album included contributions from musicians such as Ercüment Orkut, Can Çankaya, Cem Tuncer, Cenk Erdoğan and Volkan Hürsever. It brought songs from different sources, including İlhan Şeşen’s “Sıcaklardandır” and “Kadifeden Kesesi,” together with her own compositions.
Her subsequent albums were “Başka Türlü Bir Şey” (2015), “Rüyalarıma Gir” (2018), “Hayat Defteri” (2021) and “Sığınak” (2023). Her singles include “Aman Avcı,” “Böyle Olmasını İstemezdim,” “Sis,” “Hava Kararınca” and the 2024 release “Kartpostal.” Lambaoğlu received the ‘Best Female Artist’ award at the Müzik Ekspres Alternative Music Awards in 2014 and the ‘Best Jazz Music Artist ‘award at the Radyo Boğaziçi Music Awards in 2015. She was also named Alternative Pop Performer in 2018.
In Kaş, Lambaoğlu will perform in quartet format with Tolga Bedir, Eylem Pelit and Turgut Alp Bekoğlu, representing one of the festival’s principal lines connecting contemporary Turkish jazz with Turkish-language songwriting.
Öner Karaçuha Quartet: “A New Era Begins”
At the centre of Öner Karaçuha Quartet’s Kaş repertoire is “A New Era Begins”. Built around Karaçuha’s work as a drummer and composer, the project focuses on groove, electronic textures and improvisation within a contemporary jazz framework. The current stage line-up features Karaçuha on drums, Oğuzcan Bilgin on trumpet, Ayberk Güngör on keyboards and synthesizer, and Enver Ferah on bass guitar.
The quartet’s presence also reflects the festival’s approach of placing younger Turkish jazz musicians alongside international artists. Öner Karaçuha Quartet will perform at Setur Kaş Marina at 7:30 p.m. on August 29.
Jembaa Groove: From Ghana to Berlin
Berlin-based Jembaa Groove is one of the groups that gives the festival’s ‘migration’ theme a direct musical dimension. The group brings Ghanaian and broader West African rhythmic traditions together with Berlin’s contemporary soul, jazz, highlife and groove scenes, building its music around musicians from different geographical and cultural backgrounds.
Their debut album, “Susuma”, was released in 2022, followed by “Ye Ankasa/We Ourselves” in 2024. The second album draws on the sounds of 1970s Ghanaian highlife while incorporating contemporary jazz and soul influences. Jembaa Groove’s music has been featured by radio platforms including KEXP, BBC 6 Music, WDR and FIP.
In Kaş, the group’s five-piece line-up will feature Eric Owusu on vocals and percussion, Peter Ntiri Somuah on trumpet, Godwin Vata Sonzi on electric guitar, Yannick Nolting on bass guitar and Nir Tom Sabag on drums. Jembaa Groove will perform at 10:30 p.m. on August 29.
Coşkun Karademir Trio: “Folk’n’Jazz”
Coşkun Karademir Trio’s “Folk’n’Jazz” represents the festival’s direct encounter between Anatolian music and jazz. Baglama and kopuz player Coşkun Karademir is joined by pianist Selen Gülün and drummer Robert Mehmet İkiz. The trio reinterprets the melodic depth of Anatolian folk music through jazz’s improvisational freedom and harmonic vocabulary.
The project continues Karademir’s longstanding work across musical traditions. The Anatolian repertoire carried by the baglama and kopuz is reshaped within a jazz-trio format through Gülün’s piano and İkiz’s drumming. The trio will perform at Setur Kaş Marina at 7:30 p.m. on August 30.
Homeland: An East-West Axis for the Closing
Homeland will close the festival. The project brings together Serkan Çağrı on clarinet, Tuluğ Tırpan on piano and keyboards, Mehmet Özen on bass guitar and Mehmet Akatay on drums and percussion. Its repertoire places the musical memories of different geographies within contemporary arrangements and establishes a musical line between East and West.
The group’s August 30 performance at 10:30 p.m. will provide the final concert of the festival and complete its ‘Roots and Migrations’ theme along an East-West axis. The festival’s own programme identifies Çağrı, Tırpan, Akatay and Özen as the members of Homeland.
The Programme Around the Jazz
The festival programme extends beyond the evening concerts. Emiran’s “Awakening the Day” event will take place at the Amphitheatre on August 29, followed later in the day by talks and, in the evening, Jazzmosis warm-up performances. The connection between the daytime programme at MarineERA and the concerts at Setur Kaş Marina keeps the festival active across different hours of the day.
On August 28, Prof. Dr. Erol Murat Yıldız’s “Traces of Time” talk will take place at 11 a.m., followed at 2 p.m. by Julia Biel’s “Roots and Migrations: The Geography of Sound.” On August 29, Ahmet Ertürk and Prof. Dr. Havva İşkan will discuss “Lighthouses and Ports: A Journey to the Roots” at 11 a.m., while Hakan Atala’s “The History of Lale Plak: Jazz, People and Musical Connections” will take place at 2 p.m. On August 30, Michel Godard will speak at 11 a.m. on “Ancient Breaths, Melodies Beyond Time and the Memory of the Land,” followed at 2 p.m. by the “Roots and Migrations” session with Derya Türkan and Hakan Atala.
Jazzmosis warm-up performances will begin at 6:30 p.m. each day before the concerts. After the concerts, after-parties at MarineERA will continue the programme into the night.
Emiran (Photo: internet/unknown)
Kaş as Part of the Musical Geography
The ‘Roots and Migrations’ theme of the Kaş Jazz Festival can be read through both the geographical diversity of its artists and its direct relationship with the festival setting. Kaş has historically been connected to Mediterranean port cities through the movement of people, goods and cultures. The programme’s talks on history and maritime culture bring this geographical context directly into the festival.
Julia Biel’s Afro-European musical identity, Michel Godard’s engagement with European early music and contemporary improvisation, Jembaa Groove’s West African and Berlin-based musical language, Anıl Şallıel’s relationship between Turkish musical sources and jazz, Şenay Lambaoğlu’s Turkish-language jazz, Coşkun Karademir Trio’s Anatolian repertoire and Homeland’s East-West perspective all represent different musical responses to the same theme.
The Eighth Year
In its eighth year, the Kaş Jazz Festival goes beyond placing different forms of jazz on the same stage and in the same geographical setting. Talks, a sunrise event, Jazzmosis warm-up performances and after-parties extend the festival across different parts of the day alongside its concert programme.
Taking place at Setur Kaş Marina from August 28 to 30, the 8th Kaş Jazz Festival will explore the way jazz draws on different musical sources under the theme ‘Roots and Migrations.’ From sunrise to midnight, concerts, talks, musicians from different generations and musical traditions shaped by different geographies will come together within the same festival programme.
8th Kaş Jazz Festival — August 28–30, 2026
MarineERA Resto Bar – Setur Kaş Marina
August 28
Talk: “Traces of Time”
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Erol Murat Yıldız
11:00 a.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
Talk: “Roots and Migrations: The Geography of Sound”
Speaker: Julia Biel
2:00 p.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
Warm-Up: Jazzmosis
6:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Barış Demirel
7:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Şenay Lambaoğlu Quartet
Enver Muhamedi, Turgut Alp Bekoğlu, Tolga Bedir
8:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Julia Biel
Matej Cerny, Pharoah Russell, Idris Rahman
10:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
After Party
12:00 a.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
August 29
Awakening the Day: Emiran
6:30 a.m. – Amphitheatre
Talk: “Lighthouses and Ports: A Journey to the Roots”
Speakers: Ahmet Ertürk, Setur Marina Manager & Prof. Dr. Havva İşkan, Piri Reis University
11:00 a.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
Talk: “The History of Lale Plak: Jazz, People and Musical Connections”
Speaker: Hakan Atala
2:00 p.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
Warm-Up: Jazzmosis
6:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Öner Karaçuha Quartet
Oğuzcan Bilgin, Ayberk Güngör, Enver Ferah
7:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Anıl Şallıel – 166 Days featuring Deniz Taşar
Deniz Taşar, Enver Muhamedi, Mustafa Koray Üsgülen, Ekin Cengizkan
8:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Jembaa Groove
Eric Owusu, Yannick Nolting, Nir Tom Sabag, Peter Somuah, Vata Godwin Sonzi
10:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
After Party
12:00 a.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
August 30
Talk: “Roots and Migrations: Ancient Breaths, Melodies Beyond Time and the Memory of the Land”
Speaker: Michel Godard
11:00 a.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
Talk: “Roots and Migrations”
Speakers: Derya Türkan, Hakan Atala
2:00 p.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
Warm-Up: Jazzmosis
6:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Coşkun Karademir Trio – Folk’n’Jazz
Coşkun Karademir, Selen Gülün, Robert Mehmet İkiz
7:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Michel Godard Trio
Ihab Radwan, Derya Türkan
8:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
Concert: Homeland
Serkan Çağrı, Tuluğ Tırpan, Mehmet Akatay, Mehmet Özen
10:30 p.m. – Setur Marina
After Party
12:00 a.m. – MarineERA Resto Bar
All talks and the “Awakening the Day” event at the Amphitheatre are free of charge.
