Crossing seas and sounds, Something Else 19 brings together renowned Istanbul-born kemenche artist Melisa Yıldırım (TR) and genre-spanning trumpeter/vocalist Devina Boughton (US) for a first-time trio with cellist/multi-instrumentalist Wilson Tanner Smith (FI/US).

Suggested donation €10-25 (mobilepay or cash)
2 sets
7pm

SOMETHING ELSE is a concert series for improvised music focused on new meetings of musicians from across Helsinki’s free improv, experimental, jazz, electronic, and global music scenes, hosted on the 4th Thursday of each month at Kallio’s Musta Kissa bar. New small-ensemble groupings–often first-time meetings–are highlighted each time, with an emphasis on surprise, difference, curiosity, energy, and connection.

//

About:

MELISA YİLDİRİM is an Istanbul-born kemenche (kemane) player, composer and improviser whose work bridges Anatolian musical traditions with contemporary, cross-cultural expression. Rooted in the rich modal languages of Anatolia, the Middle East and surrounding regions, her sound moves fluidly between folk heritage, Sufi influences, jazz-informed improvisation and modern experimental music.
Melisa has developed an international artistic profile through collaborations, residencies and performances across Europe, the UK and the United States. She has participated in projects such as Making Tracks (UK), OneBeat (USA), and Sound Bridge, and has performed at venues including Barbican Centre and festivals such as the London Jazz Festival.
https://melisayildirim.com/

​DEVINA BOUGHTON (they/them) is a versatile trumpet player, vocalist, composer, artistic researcher and pedagogue hailing from rainy Portland, OR and currently based in Helsinki, Finland (and beyond). After completing a Bachelors of Music from Berklee College of Music, Devina was a 2021-22 Fulbright Finland Grant recipient, and holds a Masters degree from Sibelius Academy’s Global Music department. They were a 2024-25 Microtonal Music Studios Resident, received research funding from Finlandia Foundation in Summer 2025.
Devina explores and intertwines different sound worlds that play with crossing borders between improvisation and composition with a focus on timbre, nature, and cross-genre/-disciplinary collaboration.
https://devinaboughton.weebly.com/

WILSON TANNER SMITH is a cellist, composer, improviser, and theatre artist currently based in Helsinki. His musical sensibility is informed by free improvisation/free jazz, ambient, DIY and found sounds, and by many cross-cultural/-genre collaborations in his former hometown, Chicago, and more recently across northern/western Europe.
https://www.wilsontannersmith.com