Juneyt

August 27, 2011
KITCHENER — Juneyt Yetkiner stood on stage at the Chrysalids Theatre in Kitchener and, for a moment, was at a loss what to do.
The extraordinary flamenco guitarist had been the opening act June 15 for Alex Cuba. When he wrapped up his set, the audience went wild. First a standing ovation, then a demand for an encore.
Yetkiner admits he was surprised. An opening performer is expected to get off the stage quickly, of course, but you can’t ignore your fans. Cuba graciously told him to go ahead, and Yetkiner continued his set.
Since immigrating to Kitchener a decade ago, the 32-year-old Turk has been inching his way into the hearts of music lovers, playing covers and flamenco in bars, private events and concerts. Yetkiner performs Aug. 28 at the Registry Theatre, then on Sept. 8 at Waterloo Public Square ( www.juneyt.com).
It has been a promising start for a young man who only took up flamenco guitar to prove his musician friends wrong. They all told him he was too old to learn it, and their words became a red flag to an angry bull.
“It started as a hobby. I was very old, I was 18 when I started,” he said. “My personality is that I’m a very determined person and I don’t take no for an answer. If someone challenges me, I go at it non-stop.” Yetkiner sat in front of both a mirror and a video of flamenco master, Juan Serrano, mimicking every move. “I slept maybe four hours a night,” he said. “I surpassed them (friends) in the first year. I just wanted to learn because I was challenged.” Yetkiner also learned he loved to play flamenco.
Born in Istanbul, Yetkiner graduated university in hotel management and became a tour guide, learning to speak German and English. With his skills as a flamenco guitarist, he had been making a name for himself around the university. While his Turkish fans loved and understood flamenco, Yetkiner chose to leave the country, immigrating to Canada via Pakistan.
“I came here to study computer programming,” said Yetkiner, who worked “every job imaginable” while supporting himself, completing a diploma at Conestoga College and trying to get his music heard.
In a tiny Kitchener apartment, his home since a divorce, Yetkiner struggles for space for both his computer, guitar-repair businesses and his music. And he doesn’t need much encouragement to entertain.
As a studio guitarist, Yetkiner has performed on 15 albums, composed music for two television documentaries and recently released his debut CD, Ocean.
“Flamenco has a passion no other music has,” he says. “It’s the hardest guitar in the world to play technically. Rhythmically, it’s very, very complicated and takes years to understand a certain beat.”
Flamenco as a style of both music and dance has long been associated with southern Spain. Its origins are thought to have been largely influenced by Andalusian gypsies. The origin of the term flamenco is unknown, though one school of thought is that the musical form originated from a Spanish word meaning flame or fire, illustrating the passion of the music.
Flamenco has had such a deep influence on so many cultures, UNESCO declared the art form one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
As a style of guitar playing, it is said the flamenco guitarist is actually a percussionist without drumsticks, to which Yetkiner heartily agrees.
As he finger-picks with incredible speed, his fingers also rap the wood on the guitar, creating dull thumps interspersed with the music. At times it looks like his hands, all fluid motion, are tickling the strings like a father tickling a child’s belly. He even has a very cool move he created in which his fingers strum each string individually in an upward motion, each note shadowed, by the previous note.
In flamenco, there is so much going on with strings and fingers that at times it seems as if there must be several guitarists playing. His particular style of music, called nuevo flamenco, or new flamenco, is a style popularized by Jesse Cook, though Yetkiner prefers to use very difficult traditional techniques of playing.
Exactly where his love of music comes from is hard to pinpoint, he said. His father sings, but his mother’s side of the family is highly creative and inspirational and had a great deal of influence on Yetkiner, particularly his grandfather.
When he was a growing up, the family often listened to traditional Turkish music which he describes as “slow but hard,” and while flamenco came to him later in life, it has provided Yetkiner with an important link to his past and his future.
“It’s my music, it’s my culture.”
- KW Record

August 27, 2011
KITCHENER — Juneyt Yetkiner stood on stage at the Chrysalids Theatre in Kitchener and, for a moment, was at a loss what to do.
The extraordinary flamenco guitarist had been the opening act June 15 for Alex Cuba. When he wrapped up his set, the audience went wild. First a standing ovation, then a demand for an encore.
Yetkiner admits he was surprised. An opening performer is expected to get off the stage quickly, of course, but you can’t ignore your fans. Cuba graciously told him to go ahead, and Yetkiner continued his set.
Since immigrating to Kitchener a decade ago, the 32-year-old Turk has been inching his way into the hearts of music lovers, playing covers and flamenco in bars, private events and concerts. Yetkiner performs Aug. 28 at the Registry Theatre, then on Sept. 8 at Waterloo Public Square ( www.juneyt.com).
It has been a promising start for a young man who only took up flamenco guitar to prove his musician friends wrong. They all told him he was too old to learn it, and their words became a red flag to an angry bull.
“It started as a hobby. I was very old, I was 18 when I started,” he said. “My personality is that I’m a very determined person and I don’t take no for an answer. If someone challenges me, I go at it non-stop.” Yetkiner sat in front of both a mirror and a video of flamenco master, Juan Serrano, mimicking every move. “I slept maybe four hours a night,” he said. “I surpassed them (friends) in the first year. I just wanted to learn because I was challenged.” Yetkiner also learned he loved to play flamenco.
Born in Istanbul, Yetkiner graduated university in hotel management and became a tour guide, learning to speak German and English. With his skills as a flamenco guitarist, he had been making a name for himself around the university. While his Turkish fans loved and understood flamenco, Yetkiner chose to leave the country, immigrating to Canada via Pakistan.
“I came here to study computer programming,” said Yetkiner, who worked “every job imaginable” while supporting himself, completing a diploma at Conestoga College and trying to get his music heard.
In a tiny Kitchener apartment, his home since a divorce, Yetkiner struggles for space for both his computer, guitar-repair businesses and his music. And he doesn’t need much encouragement to entertain.
As a studio guitarist, Yetkiner has performed on 15 albums, composed music for two television documentaries and recently released his debut CD, Ocean.
“Flamenco has a passion no other music has,” he says. “It’s the hardest guitar in the world to play technically. Rhythmically, it’s very, very complicated and takes years to understand a certain beat.”
Flamenco as a style of both music and dance has long been associated with southern Spain. Its origins are thought to have been largely influenced by Andalusian gypsies. The origin of the term flamenco is unknown, though one school of thought is that the musical form originated from a Spanish word meaning flame or fire, illustrating the passion of the music.
Flamenco has had such a deep influence on so many cultures, UNESCO declared the art form one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
As a style of guitar playing, it is said the flamenco guitarist is actually a percussionist without drumsticks, to which Yetkiner heartily agrees.
As he finger-picks with incredible speed, his fingers also rap the wood on the guitar, creating dull thumps interspersed with the music. At times it looks like his hands, all fluid motion, are tickling the strings like a father tickling a child’s belly. He even has a very cool move he created in which his fingers strum each string individually in an upward motion, each note shadowed, by the previous note.
In flamenco, there is so much going on with strings and fingers that at times it seems as if there must be several guitarists playing. His particular style of music, called nuevo flamenco, or new flamenco, is a style popularized by Jesse Cook, though Yetkiner prefers to use very difficult traditional techniques of playing.
Exactly where his love of music comes from is hard to pinpoint, he said. His father sings, but his mother’s side of the family is highly creative and inspirational and had a great deal of influence on Yetkiner, particularly his grandfather.
When he was a growing up, the family often listened to traditional Turkish music which he describes as “slow but hard,” and while flamenco came to him later in life, it has provided Yetkiner with an important link to his past and his future.
“It’s my music, it’s my culture.”
- KW Record

Incredible Flamenco/Mediterranean guitar player, Cuneyt Yetkiner, came out to support Brantfords crime stoppers. And we could not help but notice the amazing music pumping out of the speakers. So...
We grabbed our cameras and shot, what is for me, one of my favorite live jams. Here is a a song from his up coming album. - Brantford.com