Bora Uymaz

Bora Uymaz studied at the Ege University Turkish Music Conservatory between 1994 and 1999. He has benefitted from the teachings of notable musicians such as Cinuçen Tanrıkorur, Akın Özkan, Vefik Ataç and Reha Şağbaş. In 2000 Uymaz was appointed to the Bursa State Classical Turkish Music Choir. He then joined the Izmir State Classical Turkish Music Choir and completed his Master’s degree at the Dokuz Eylül University where he is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in religious music. Since January 2015 Uymaz has been the musical director and soloist of a radio show on mystic music from Turkey, aired weekly on TRT Nağme and titled “Aşk-u Muhabbet.”

While Uymaz owes his fame to the sophistication of his vocal expression, he reflects the same depth of expression in his compositions which are somewhat like the musical tableaux of his life. In this regard, he has won several awards in composition contests with his opus which counts nearly 600 works in various forms and musical styles. He is noted for the use of highly spiritual lyrics in his compositions. Uymaz has created a new Turkish music form titled “Natık-ı Elhan” which he named himself. He has also devised a makam “Suzinak-Aşiran,” named by Cinuçen Tanrıkorur. Uymaz is also a skilled performer of the tanbur and luth, he often prefers to remain in the shadow as a perfomer despite credits that his style is one of the most important approach in the present time.

Uymaz has appeared as a soloist at concerts in Australia, USA, Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, Finland, Macedonia, Tunisia, Cyprus and Netherlands. As a member of the Kudsi Erguner Ensemble, he toured in France, Italy, Poland, Lebanon, Holland, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Omman, Norway and Brazil and relased a recording entitled “Pervane.” He is credited with four recordings of his own with “Yunusça,” “Mim sad ra,” “Bir” and “Cafe Tango.” Uymaz contributed to the 2004 ”World Cultural Heritage” documentary by UNESCO, on its Mevlevi music chapter. He composed Ahmet Ilgaz’ extended poem titled “Rüya içinde rüya” in Natık-ı Elhan form and released an album consisting of Ilgaz’s poems and scores in a book-CD format. As part of a series titled “Anatolian Saints,” Uymaz recited poems of wisdom in music by spiritual figures such as Niyâzî Mısrî, Yunus Emre, and Hz. Gaybî.

In 2013 Uymaz started to collaborate with harpist Şirin Pancaroğlu on various projects. They have founded the “Şimdi Ensemble,” which is an ensemble dedicated to performing mystic music from Turkey with existing material as well as new music written by band members. Uymaz has joined Şirin Pancaroğlu’s “Cafe Tango” project as a soloist and composed tangos, most of which have been released on the Cafe Tango album issued on Kalan label. He is also the featured vocalist in Pancaroğlu’s “Elişi” project, where they perform traditional music from Turkey with a new touch. Uymaz also acted as the producer of Pancaroğlu’s historical Ottoman harp (“çeng”) album which was released in 2014. He currently continues his work in Izmir.