Yunus Emre InstituteYunus Emre Enstitüsü – London presented Nothingness in Sufism: The Journey of Sound and Silence on Saturday, 29 November 2025, at St Cyprian’s Clarence Gate as part of the HİÇ: In Pursuit of Nothingness exhibition programme.
The concert attracted overwhelming interest and was sold out in advance, filling the historic venue to capacity. For 1 hour and 20 minutes, the audience was immersed in a musical journey exploring the Sufi concept of hiçlik—nothingness—through the rich traditions of Turkish Sufi music.
The repertoire featured verses by Anatolia’s great mystic poets—Yunus Emre, Kaygusuz Abdal, Niyazî-i Mısrî, Pir Sultan Abdal, and others—interpreted through the modal intricacies of Turkish makam music. Their poetry, shaped by themes of self-effacement, longing, divine love, and spiritual surrender, resonated deeply within St Cyprian’s acoustics, creating an atmosphere of profound contemplation.
The concert was performed by a distinguished ensemble of musicians rooted in the living heritage of Turkish music:
Serda Türkel Oter (vocals), Eray Cinpir (vocals & percussion), Murat Ferhat Yegül (ney), Serdar Yılmaz (qanun), and Tolga Oter (oud).
Their interpretation treated each piece not simply as performance but as invocation, a form of remembrance that bridged sound and silence, presence and absence.
Audience members described the evening as meditative, immersive, and emotionally expansive, noting how the delicate balance between the flowing melodies of the ney, the resonance of the oud, the clarity of the qanun, and the devotional vocals produced a rare sense of stillness. Within the dimly lit serenity of St Cyprian’s, the concert invited listeners to “hear” silence itself—to encounter hiçlik not as emptiness but as the fertile ground of spiritual awakening.
Aligned with the HİÇ: In Pursuit of Nothingness exhibition, the concert contributed to an ongoing artistic dialogue between sound and form, material and immaterial, self and surrender. Together, they offered London audiences a unique opportunity to experience Sufi thought through music, philosophy, and visual art.
