Yarinistan

Nedim Hazar was singer and frontman of the German-Turkish band Yarinistan.
They released four albums, received the German Record Critics’ Award,
and played over 200 concerts throughout Germany.

Photo: Berlin, 1988 - Yarinistan Archive


Yarinistan? This is the deliberate wrong translation of the German term “Morgenland” which means the Western World.

Nedim Hazar and Geo Schaller, founders of the popular ethnic-rock band in the 80s before the fall of the wall, christened the group the “Land of Tomorrow” in pseudo-Turkish.

Yarinistan sketch by the Turkish painter Abidin Dino (1913 -1993)

During the work for the music film “Our Islands”, the duo came together again in 2013. Hazar directed the film, Schaller took over the musical direction and the soundtrack. As a result, a new album was released in collaboration with various Turkish and Greek musicians. 

Last but not least, the Yarinistan Duo released an anti-Erdoğan song in 2016: “The Mayor and the Cats”.

Yarinistan wrote and played songs about how shitty Germany could become if the Turks didn’t clean it („Türken sind froh“) and about secret love affairs of young migrants and Germans („Max und Gülistan“). They produced Kurdish disco music („Lorke“) when something like that was not imaginable yet. Some of their songs appeared in popular radio charts, they played almost everywhere in Germany, including former East Germany, in various European countries and the Soviet Union of the Gorbachev era.

After about 250 concerts and four released albums, the duo moved into the world of political music cabaret. With almost 100 performances each, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Islam...”and “This Dish Contains No Pork” became among the most successful German productions of the early 90s. 

Hazar and Schaller drifted apart in 1994, among other reasons, due to the general racist climate in Germany at that time (arson in Solingen, Mölln etc.).

During the work for the music film “Our Islands”, the duo came together again in 2013. Hazar directed the film, Schaller took over the musical direction and the soundtrack. As a result, a new album was released in collaboration with various Turkish and Greek musicians. 

Last but not least, the Yarinistan Duo released an anti-Erdoğan song in 2016: “The Mayor and the Cats”.

Various Press Critiques From Earlier Years

  • “When Nedim from Turkey plucks on his oud, when Geo Schaller from Germany evokes the nasal tone from the flute and immediately afterwards beats the drum rhythmically, they carry the audience away to the land where the sun rises: the Orient, which for centuries fertilized the Occident with its culture.
    Westfälische Rundschau
  • “Yarinistan made sure that the idea of amusement in cabaret was thoroughly disrupted. Sure, there was laughter. Sure, heart and pain were not forgotten. First and foremost, however, these two young musicians drove out misconceptions among the audience. One could almost say that the conflict between the Islamic world and the West gives birth to a new antagonism. This is the main reason why events like this one are important, because besides amusement and well-dosed exoticism, they provide information about a religion that is only known in fragments, about people whose world view reaches us only in a clichéd form.”
    Gabriele Weingartner, RFZ
  • “The exciting rhythms of Balkan folklore, the charming sounds of traditional folk instruments in the interplay of rock instruments really once again give rise to the question why we should be content with the comparatively boring American standard commodity that dominates the world.
    Thomas Rotschild, Frankfurter Rundschau
  • “The two proved to be not only ravishing musicians, but also amazing animators. Their spectrum ranged from Turkish, Kurdish and Azerbaijani songs to the ever wild Francois Villon.
    Schwäbisches Tageblatt
  • “Geo Schaller and Nedim Hazar, with their literary-musical bridging of the Orient and Occident, perform the feat of exposing the common cultural background despite the current atmosphere of growing hostility towards foreigners and without getting lost in the world of mere advice. Their excursion into music theatre is a worth seeing stage experiment with considerable depth. Conclusion: Absolutely recommendable.”
    Anja Bezold, Nürnberger Nachrichten

Music Clips

Recent Videos (2013 - 2016)

The Mayor and the Cats

Most recent music clip.

Tewle Tewle

Recorded in the Kurdish village of Schkefta near Batman in Turkey.

Our Islands

Final scene of “Our Islands”fFeaturing Vassiliki Papageorgiou, Taner Öngür and many more.


Earlier Videos (1980’s)

Bilmem Şu Feleğin Bende Nesi Var

From the wedding scene in Hark Bohm’s Film “Yasemin” feat. Toto Karaca, Şener Şen und many more.

Max und Gülistan

East Berlin, former East Germany.

Lorke

RTL, Cologne

Davul Çaldım

Duisburg, Rheinhausen

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