photos by Selin Ünsel  Danae Palaka is an Istanbul-based drummer and artist. Born in Athens to a musical family partially hailing from Istanbul, she relocated there to explore the city’s heritage and her own roots. Her energetic and dense drumming style is influenced by Afrobeat and Anatolian rhythms, contemporary jazz and electronic music, and blends grooves, polyrhythms and textural sounds. Her interest in researching alternative qualities of the drum-kit generates concepts that aspire to redefine the essence of time and (co-) existence. In 2023 she represented Türkiye at ‘Sound Bridge’, a residency program produced by Found Sound Nation. Danae is currently pursuing her PhD in İTÜ-MIAM after completing her Mmus with a practice-based research on karşılama rhythm. Velox is her first solo album and is released with A.F.O.M. INT.

Danae Palaka Drummer – Artist
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Danae Palaka is an Istanbul-based drummer and artist. Born in Athens to a musical family partially hailing from Istanbul, she relocated there to explore the city’s heritage and her own roots. Her energetic and dense drumming style is influenced by Afrobeat and Anatolian rhythms, contemporary jazz and electronic music, and blends grooves, polyrhythms and textural sounds. Her interest in researching alternative qualities of the drum-kit generates concepts that aspire to redefine the essence of time and (co-) existence. In 2023 she represented Türkiye at ‘Sound Bridge’, a residency program produced by Found Sound Nation. Danae is currently pursuing her PhD in İTÜ-MIAM after completing her Mmus with a practice-based research on karşılama rhythm. Velox is her first solo album and is released with A.F.O.M. INT.
9
Video
4:44 Video: Khaled Tanji
Sound: Deniz Ünsal
Location: Zographeio Lykeio Greek School, Beyoğlu, Istanbul


“9” is a 3-part improvised piece, performed live by Danae Palaka at the historic Zographeio Greek School of Istanbul (TR). It is influenced by traditional davul performance and karşılama, a common rhythm between Turkey and Greece, but also by the intertwining past and present and hüzün (a collective feeling of melancholy) that the city of Istanbul and the school itself evoke.