This world is my home
“Hemşerim Memleket Nire? – Bu Dünya benim Memleket!” This iconic Turkish phrase is at the heart of the band Dunya. It translates to, ‘My friend, where are you from? – This world is my home.‘
The word ‘Cosmopolitan’ is definitely true of the four-piece band Dunya (Turkish for ‘world’). The quintet from Hamburg makes wonderfully poetic songs in Turkish, German and English – just mixed together, side by side.
The sound? Also quite a worldly mix. Two tablespoons of psychedelic rock and dreampop, a dash of warm Eastern flow, flavored with a pinch of krautrock. Mix vigorously and what do you get? Well, it turns out, a wonderful debut album.
The album Zaman, released in 2023, moves fluidly between worlds, blending styles and sounds, languages, and themes. Lyricist and vocalist Banu Şengül’s voice serves as the perfect glue—at times dark and reminiscent of prog rock, at other times warm and clear. Her casual shifts between Turkish, German, and English are instantly accepted by the listener. The language flows with the music, the sounds are perfectly in sync, and this worldly fusion leaves you wanting more, more, more.
With this remarkable debut album, Dunya sits somewhere between all musical genres and expectations—both musically and conceptually—but that’s exactly the quintet’s intention. In this way, they’ve created a total work of art.
– Gaesteliste.de
DUNYA will not only appeal to the cosmo-ethnopop community, but also awaken indie rock fans.– (****) Ox-Fanzine.de
This performance is co-sponsored by The Popfabryk, part of the Excite network. This is a European network of music organizations and festivals that exchanges a selection of talented artists and bands every year.