Renan Koen´s Brand-New Projects for Hatay

Renan Koen is working on brand-new projects for the earthquake-impacted region of Hatay. She is organizing three new projects; concerts, Mother-Child Music and Art Therapy workshops, and a city's Memory of Sound project which she has designed through her own music therapy method.

During her concerts, Koen will perform a wide repertoire including works of J. Haydn, F. Lizst, J. Brahms, Ali Darmar, Francisca Gonzaga, F. Mompou, a Georgian folk song, G. Gershwin and the Hatay folk song (türkü) she specially requested of the young composer Selen Tiftikçi for these concerts. Meanwhile, she will continue her interviews in Arsuz and Antakya where she plans on meeting 100 families.

The first concert will be performed in Arsuz Municipality Nazim Hikmet Cultural Center on Wednesday, May 15 at 20:00 hrs., with the initiative of Rahel Elvaşvili Butros who has set other women in motion via her environmentalism mentality and devotion in her work, made a name for herself through the environment-friendly projects she had organized in Arsuz in 2019, and who has started and still presiding "Miss Arsuz Volunteers." Through the same initiative, on Thursday, May 16th, the Mother-Child Music and Art Therapy workshop will be realized at Arsuz Life Center led by the "Füsun Sayek Association for the Development of Health and Education."

On May 17th, Koen will perform the same concert for the people living in the villages around Hatay at HASAT (Hatay Agriculture Art Design) which Elif Ovalı had established in Antakya following the earthquake. On May 18th the "Mother-Child Music and Art Therapy workshops will be organized at HASAT which has become a home in Antakya providing products and training in many fields.

Renan Koen, between May 20-25, will begin her "Memory of Sound" project that she will conduct with many families. These meetings, led by the Serinyol Hand-in-Hand Solidarity and Assistance Association (SEDYAD) will take place at the music school opened selflessly by the Turkish/Dutch singer Karsu and at Zeytin Konak, located in the center of Antakya.

This project will also reach readers and music lovers in the form of a book, a website, and a digital music album.

Renan Koen's Memory of Sound project will be launched in November via a concert in Istanbul. ALARKO is the main sponsor of Koen in this big project. Koen, specifically expressing that she is walking hand in hand with the BirIz, KMKD (Association for the Protection of Cultural Heritage), and SEDYAD (Serinyol Hand-in-Hand Solidarity and Assistance Association) foundations, and Elif Ovalı, stated, "If it weren't for Alarko, Miss Arsuz and all the other associations and individuals, who led me to realize my project in Hatay and paved my way in the process, I would never be able to accomplish all these."

The artist outlines the aim of her project by saying, "Memory of Sound is the history of an individual, a family, a city compiled via sounds and music. I have been working as a music therapist for almost 20 years, using my own America-approved method, working with sound memories of individuals, families, and unborn babies -through their families. Memory of Sound is the journey into the history of sound perception's transformation into memories in order to heal individuals therapeutically, protect their well-being, and preserve a city's disappearing intangible memory. I am intensely emotional about regenerating, the echoes in this world through sounds, of a city and families that have either disappeared or are in the process of disappearing. Hoping it might slightly heal the hearts suffering from this great loss that can never be replaced..."

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