
Hüseyin Cem Durak
Artist
He was born in 1986 in Bakırköy, Istanbul. In 2005, she was accepted with a full scholarship to the Department of Theatre at Maltepe University Faculty of Fine Arts and graduated in 2010. Throughout her professional artistic career, she took part in various productions at Kocaeli City Theatre, Bakırköy Municipal Theatre, and the Istanbul State Theatre. In 2019, she enrolled in the Institute for Sufi Studies at Üsküdar University, in the Department of Sufi Culture and Literature. For her graduation project, she prepared a research study titled "Bektaşi Nefesleri" by Dervîş Rûhullâh, known by the pen name Ahmed Rıfkı. This work is notable as a printed Ottoman Turkish text that maintained its spiritual essence during the transition from the Westernizing Ottoman era to the early Republic, despite only its script changing. She graduated in 2020. Having been raised in Sufi teachings from a young age, she conducted field research in Anatolia and the Balkans focusing on “semah hymns and movement order” as well as “performance of meydân hymns.” As part of the meydân muhabbeti (traditional Sufi musical gatherings), she is also skilled in playing traditional instruments such as the bağlama and bendir. She is currently a member of the İstanbul Sufi Ceremonies Ensemble, affiliated with the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s General Directorate of Fine Arts.