Veka Aler

Instruments:

Voice

Traditions:

, , Ottoman & Turkish, Kurdish

Vera Aler is an Istanbul-born vocal artist, focusing on Eastern music and their related vocal techniques.

In Eastern music, vocal studies are traditionally based on an oral educational system called Meshk. However, today this method is not practical, so Ms. Aler has devised a way of teaching Eastern vocal techniques combined with Meshk and academic systems, allowing her to impart a musical repertoire spanning Turkish, Kurdish, Azeri and Iranian songs. This analyses the traditional timbres and harmonising their authenticity with her own vocal skills, rather than reflecting them directly.

She studied Azeri makam singing lessons with Cavit Mürtezaoğlu, an Iranian-Turkish singer and voice trainer, who synthesized Eastern and Western vocal techniques into a unique vocal method. Veka proceeded to develop her own approach based on her own research and experience teaching and performing. For Veka, the voice is above all an instrument, and understanding anatomy correctly and recognizing the individual voice sound allows the singer to apply Middle Eastern vocal features and techniques.

Veka Aler has conducted seminars at the Music Village (Müzik Köyü) in Fethiye, Turkey since 2015, as well as at the Labyrinth Musical Workshop in Crete, sharing repertoire of the many regions and cultures of Turkey. In 2016, she became a co-founder of the music band, Hemhal, which has a multilingual repertoire with Arslan Hazreti.