Sofra Trio release their debut EP New Dawn today, 15th May, via Worlds Within Worlds — the Sydney-based label whose catalogue of Eastern classical and traditional music has previously featured on KLOF through releases from Sareban, Nizar Rohana, Abdel Benaddi and Gulab Afridi.
Comprised of Melisa Yıldırım (kamancha, Türkiye), Merve Abdurrahmani (piano, Kosova/Finland) and Hadi Hrekes (percussion, Syria), the trio came together at the Sibelius Academy’s Global Music Department in Helsinki, where their distinct musical paths converged. Their name — sofra, the word for a dining table shared across Arabic, Turkish and Balkan languages — gestures toward the values at the heart of their work: hospitality, exchange and collective creation.
New Dawn was recorded live in a single take, capturing three musicians listening, responding and shaping the music in real time. “What you hear is immediate and unfiltered,” Yıldırım explains, “captured as it happened, in its most natural form.” Drawing from the traditions of Syria, Türkiye and the Balkans, the trio move fluidly between composed material and improvisation, with original work and collective authorship at the centre of their practice.
The title track emerged from a spontaneous studio improvisation and was preserved in its original form. Its searching, fragile quality sets the tone for the record as a whole, standing as both a beginning and a statement of intent — an opening into a collaborative practice built on trust, curiosity and deep listening.
Yıldırım is an award-winning kamancha player with performances at the EFG London Jazz Festival and a residency at OneBeat in the United States. Abdurrahmani is a composer and performer whose work bridges jazz, Balkan and Middle Eastern traditions, with appearances at Rudolstadt and Kaustinen. Hrekes has performed across the Arab world and Europe, including at the Silk Road Festival. New Dawn was recorded, mixed and mastered by Tuisku Hillilä.
New Dawn (May 15th, 2026) Worlds Within Worlds