“One of the most enjoyable concerts was Ali Doğan Gönültaş with his trio. He sings and plays tembur and guitar with clarinet and percussion. He’s a rising star on the Kurdish music scene and has a totally engaging personality, smiling, laughing and inviting you in. […] Gönültaş is a first-rate performer.”
Simon Broughton for Songlines #195, about the concert by Ali at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
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“There is something that, at least for the moment, still escapes so-called artificial intelligence, which quantifies everything. Let’s talk about human emotion. The soul-shaking demons. Ali Doğan Gönültaş has plenty of this, delighting the public on the second day of Fira Mediterrània of Manresa […] You have to be brave to present yourself in a scenario as you are, without additives of any kind. And this is where we return to Ali Doğan, an Anatolian artist based in Istanbul who transmitted a rare authenticity to see on the international circuit in the auditorium of the Elm Plain. There is the strength of his singing, now accompanied by tembur now with acoustic guitar, and the grace of the percussionist and clarinetist who support him. There is the invaluable help of a hand program that tells you that the repertoire touches on the universal themes of universal folk: repressed cultures, poor people who aspire to love, young people who have to go far by force to make a soldier. But above all there is the spontaneity and fluid communication that this artist knows how to generate between his musicians and the audience.”
Jordi Martí, Enderrock, about the concert by Ali at the Fira Mediterrània de Manresa, 6th of October 2023.
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“Anatolia, the mother of tunes. Mesopotamia, the mother of cultures. Ali Doğan Gönültaş, with his delving rhythmic journey, grasps my heart and caresses it with care and knowledge. He awakes the layers of cultural divinity and embraces all its population. His magnificent study of the tunes of these lands places a tear in my eye and makes hope to smile simultaneously. I assumed all the thematic sounds of the souls ever living in the soil. We cry, we smile, we resolve, and we breathe. Ali Doğan Gönültaş slaps you gently to wake up and perceive what’s out there. One of the best productions of this year!”
Zekeriya S. Şen. Author, music writer & radio programmer. Radio show Dünyayı Dinliyorum (I listen to the world) at 94.9 Acik Radyo.
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“Ali Doğan Gönültaş’ first solo album ‘Kiğı’: A real diamond not only for Kurdish music lovers! The music, like poetry, is of great importance to the Kurds. In a non-state, whose language and literature are suppressed, everything is sung to be remembered and saved. In much of Kurdish music today, this primary function of music as a tool for memory, learning, thinking, and education of the all-embracing music soul is highlighted, and is as necessary as daily bread. Ali Doğan Gönültaş represents and presents a collage of different cultures around his birthplace Kiğı’, both in terms of instruments and with his approach to musical forms that have been used from the past. The work conveys thematic content and style such as the traditional Kurdish dance govend sprinkled with unabashed lamentation, labor songs and prayers… Α wonderful timeless journey!”
Eleni Ziliaskopoulou, M.A., Planet Radio 90,6, show FM Μουσικές Του Πλανήτη (Planet Music)
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“Ali’s concert was a moving journey, specifically to Eastern Anatolia, but also symbolically – to any place where music seems to be above all divisions. The multitude of rhythms and languages specific to this region was not only pleasant and interesting, but also very moving. Remarkable precision, instrumental proficiency and an unforgettable voice meant that each subsequent piece seemed to be an important twist in this story, which the artist had been building for 10 years, collecting ethnomusicological data and respecting various sources.”
Ula Nowak, radio journalist, JAZZKULTURA (Poland); host of the program “Świato-czułość | WorldSensitivity”, about the concert in Vienna in September 2022
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“A vivid personal viewpoint on the musical map of Kiğı region. An oral history project turning into a potent and superbly delivered musical journey giving voice to the multicultural styles and repertoires of Eastern Anatolia.”
Ciro de Rosa, Blogfoolk, Italy
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“This album brings together 10 years of field research in dozens of archives. It reconstructs the sound of Kiğı, the name of Ali Doğan Gönültaş’s once multi-ethnically inhabited birthplace. He discovered stories like the one of the good-humoured gardener enjoying his harvest and looking for girls. One hears the lute tembur, wind instruments like mey and zurna, frame drums and again and again beautiful choirs. Especially during the dance songs. Ali Doğan Gönültaş sings in the languages of the region. Kurmanci, Armenian, Turkish and Zaza. More and more musicians in Turkey are discovering the multi-ethnic heritage of their homeland, including long-forgotten Armenian songs, like the one on „Kiğı” about the beautiful Mayram, who cries her eyes out until her unloved husband’s house collapses.
Kiğı is a beguiling album between joie de vivre and sadness, and because of its multilingualism, its freedom, its humour and intoxication, a manifesto of lived tolerance.”
Grit Friedrich, German independent journalist specialiced in music and cultures from South-East Europe
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“Ali Doğan Gönültaş dazzles us with songs from a land that has always been a crossroads: the heart of Anatolia. Illuminating songs in Zazaki, Kurdish, Armenian and Turkish show us the brilliant talent of an artist who has much to offer.”
Juan Antonio Vázquez, Mundofonías radio show & Mil Mundos (Radio Clásica, Spanish National Radio), founder of Transglobal World Music Chart