Music for Peace Istanbul

Music For Peace Istanbul is a foundation that teaches music to young children in Istanbul and does such a great job at it that the orchestra they have put together has just given a TEDx performance. Such a wonderful atmoshpere they created in a poor neighborhood by the famous Chora Church in Edirnakapi, the Golden Horn since early 2000s.

We visit their school often on The Other Tour to observe the wonderful atmosphere created by the crazy-awesome volunteers who work with children to create orchestras. They recently gave a great TED performance and you can watch it by clicking the big PLAY button above. Or read a bit more about them below…

Yeliz Baki (Istanbul, 1975), terminating her academic pursuits in the field of Cognitive Linguistics, founded Barış için Müzik Vakfı (Music for Peace Istanbul Foundation) with her spouse Mehmet Selim Baki in 2005. She is currently the Vice President of the Foundation, a transformational cultural project which aims to improve social cohesion and peace through music.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx


José Antonio Abreu, the founder of Venezuela’s award-winning El Sistema music education program, officially signed Turkey’s Barış İçin Müzik Vakfı (Music for Peace Foundation) up to join El Sistema’s global program.

Abreu, with directors from İKSV, signed the agreement with Music for Peace Istanbul’s founders Mehmet Selim Baki and his wife, Yeliz Baki, who own and operate the organization’s headquarters in İstanbul.

Through El Sistema’s unique training methods, the Music for Peace Foundation will be able to train young musicians not just in how to make music, but they will also learn valuable skills by teaching others, and how to work cooperatively in large and small groups. –Source


Or below, you can catch a glimpse of the training in which they welcomed the participants of The Other Tour.