Merve Salgar

Born in Istanbul and based in Strasbourg, Merve Salgar is a tanbur player and improviser working across Ottoman/Turkish music and improvisation. Through her personal approach to the tanbur, she explores its possibilities beyond traditional contexts, bringing the instrument into dialogue with different musical languages and practices. Alongside her solo work, she collaborates with musicians from diverse backgrounds.

In 2016, she founded the trio Savt with Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu and Canfeza Gündüz. Their debut album, Birinci Hane, was released by AK Müzik. In 2018, she formed a duo with singer and songwriter Zoe Heselton, with whom she recorded Health to Your Hands, released by Soleils Bleus. In 2023, Salgar released her first solo album, Step Out, on Pantopia Music, as well as Velvele, a duo album with Anıl Eraslan released by Wabisabi Tapes. Together with Eraslan, she also co-produced Sound Dreams of Istanbul, a documentary film directed by Eraslan that explores Istanbul’s improvisational music scene.

Her current projects include Velvele, Yeni Gayda, Sousta Politiki, Imbroglio, Mire, and Zoe Heselton & Sister Outsider.