I. Robert Ikiz & Cenk Erdoğan "LAHZA" II. Andreas Schaerer & Daniel Garcia

The eastPLUGGED® concert year 2026 got off to a flying start with a double concert and two very special line-ups:

The Swedish/Turkish drummer Robert Mehmet Ikiz (known as Ikiz) started with his Turkish duo partner Cenk Erdoğan. Their programme LAHZA spreads over at least two musical worlds: the musical tradition of South-Eastern Europe, which flooded the church especially when Cenk played the fretless part (perdesiz gitar) of his double guitar (with its seemingly endless sound options), and Northern European folklore, abstracted by Ikiz's often powerful percussion elements.  A great performance with a wide range of European music.

This range was further enhanced in the second part of the evening, presented by the DUO of Spanish pianist Daniel Garcia and Swiss vocal acrobat Andreas Schaerer, which couldn't have been more different from the first concert (which was exactly what the organisers had planned). A congenial team, in which Andreas elicited tones, sounds, noises and diverse percussion elements from his body, sometimes simultaneously, so that with your eyes closed you often didn't know how many people were there on stage.

Four very different, exceptionally likeable and empathetic musicians from four European countries proved on this Saturday, when another war started in the Middle East, that people and cultures can complement each other harmoniously and even inspire others, in particular when they played a spontaneously improvised encore as a quartet at the end of the evening, accompanied by vocal contributions from the audience. Sensational.

Çok teşekkürler, Ikiz ve Cenk. Muchas gracias Daniel, tusen tak Ikiz, and merci vielmals Andreas, for this long and wonderful evening of European music.

Many thanks as well to pastor Thomas Gerhold and Mattis Düwel for their impressive words on the current global situation at the beginning of the evening.