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Mehmet Polat

Mehmet Polat - foto Ali Cağlar Erdoğan
Mehmet Polat - foto Ali Cağlar Erdoğan

(Turkey, 1981) is a master ud player, composer, soloist and ensemble leader from his Mehmet Polat Quartet. He performs internationally from Africa to India, Persia to the Balkans, Contemporary to Jazz, and has been combining various musical genres with his Alevi Spiritual, Anatolian Folk and Ottoman classical music background. Through his improvisations, compositions and his own take on a variety of musical styles, Mehmet is constantly searching for new musical paths and inspiration. After many years of research, he invented his own technique to advance beyond the limitations of his traditional instrument. With this new left hand technique, he can play more advanced and modern pieces. He has also designed an ud with two extra bass strings to broaden the range and function of his instrument.

(WU2025)

Archive available for: Mehmet Polat

  • Writers Unlimited 2025

    Author Christine Otten in Bibliotheek Nieuw Waldeck

    With: Christine Otten, Mehmet Polat

    The Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival was to be found on many stages in The Hague from 23 to 26 January 2025. In Bibliotheek Nieuw Waldeck, writer Christine Otten spoke about and read from her book Als ik je eenmaal mijn verhaal verteld heb (Once I've told you my story), with musical contributions from master ud player Mehmet Polat.

    Als ik je eenmaal mijn verhaal verteld heb is a novel about big themes: can one escape the own background and the community one belongs to? What makes a good person? And when is one truly free?

    After 12 years of detention, Anir is trying to build a new life 'outside'. At the probation office, he meets Emma. She finds in Anir the experienced person she needs for her dissertation. Anir hopes the conversations will be liberating. What begins as an equal 'deal' between two like-minded people soon becomes an intimate and sultry friendship, in which the scientific context seems to fade into the background.

    Christine Otten is a writer, performer and theatre-maker. In 2004, she made her breakthrough with De laatste dichters (The Last Poets), which was nominated for the Libris Literature Prize. This novel, about the lives of four black Americans who created a furore under the name 'The Last Poets', was adapted for theatre. We hadden liefde, we hadden wapens (We Had Love, We Had Guns, 2016) is a whirlwind novel about the life of black civil rights fighter Robert F. Williams in America, and about standing up for the right to be who you are, regardless of the consequences. Een van ons (One of Us, 2020), her novel about lifelong criminal Luc was performed as a theatre monologue. The Blocknotes Foundation, co-founded by Otten in 2020, uses creative writing for empowerment and talent development of people in prison.

    Mehmet Polat is a master ud player, composer, soloist and ensemble leader of his Mehmet Polat Quartet. He performs internationally from Africa to India, Persia to the Balkans with contemporary to jazz, combining different musical genres. In his improvisations, compositions and with his own take on different musical styles, Mehmet constantly seeks new musical paths and inspiration. He invented a new left-hand technique so that he can play more sophisticated and modern pieces on the ud. He also designed a ud with two extra bass strings to increase the range and function of his instrument.


    Festival tip 1: for the full festival experience, you went to the grand festival events Friday Night Unlimited (24 January) and Saturday Night Unlimited (25 January)! Both nights you chose your own route along some 20 performances, readings and conversations on five stages in Theater aan het Spui and Filmhuis Den Haag. English and Dutch spoken.

    Festivaltip 3: as Writers Unlimited presented literature festivals for 30 years in 2025, we celebrated this anniversary with Playing with Fire, a show full of music, dance and literature at Amare (Danstheater) on Sunday afternoon, 26 January. You saw and heard Spinvis, Shirma Rouse, XILLAN, Babs Gons, Joost Oomen, Zaire Krieger, Claudia Karapanou Flamenco Trio, Royal Conservatoire Dance and percussion group Pulse led by Eli Wing, among others.

    From 23 to 26 January 2025, Writers Unlimited International Literature Festival The Hague was to be found in theatres, libraries and schools throughout the city: from Theater aan het Spui, Filmhuis Den Haag, Amare and Paard to Theater Dakota, Theater De Vaillant, the Laakkwartier, Nieuw Waldeck, Schilderswijk and Ypenburg libraries, the Institute of Social Studies and De Haagse Hogeschool. With over 120 writers, poets and spoken-word artists and musicians from the Netherlands and abroad. With readings, prose, poetry, storytelling, spoken word, author interviews, topical talks, films and music.

  • Winternachten 2010

    Winternachten Lecture

    With: Alexander Rinnooy Kan, Antjie Krog, Fouad Laroui, Mehmet Polat, Tarun Tejpal, Xue Xinran

    The question seemed as simple as far-reaching: if you were to rewrite the rules of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, from a South African perspective, would the result resemble the original? Or would something completely different emerge?

    The South African writer Antjie Krog took up the gauntlet and presents the result at the annual Winternachten Lecture. In her lecture it is clear from the outset that in the new text the original rules of the declaration are not quite recognizable. Indeed, no rules have been included at all. Why? Because, according to Krog, the Third World never comes up with rules. Rules are something for the First World. The Third World comes forward with suggestions. Or it burns. Because the First World always listens to fire.

    For Krog suggestions suffice. Her declaration has two titles: The Universal Declaration of Interconnectedness and Universal Suggestions for Tolerance. Her lecture ends in two fundamental questions on tolerance and intolerance. The Indian writer Tarun Tejpal and the Chinese writer Xue Xinran try to answer from the perspective of their countries of origin. Both Tejpal and Xinran not only write fiction, but as journalists they contribute to the public debate in their country.

    Writer Fouad Laroui hosts the evening. The audience will be given the opportunity to react to both Krog and Xinran and Tejpal.
    The lecture is in English. The Dutch translation is projected simultaneously. Visitors of the lecture will receive the full text in Dutch and English.