Göksel Baktagir’s ‘East Wind’ project is a voyage on a magic carpet woven by the tunes touching the heart of the East. The album under the same name has been awarded by the Writers Union of Turkey. Baktagir, as one of the leading artists of our time in traditional performance of the zither, a versatile composer, and a prominent lecturer, he is continously inventing new techniques and broadening the perspective of his instrument. Baktagir has also collaborated with many world artists from different genres. Besides his many well known compositions, his instrumental piece ‘Azeri’, co-arranged and performed with Turkish oud master Yurdal Tokcan, is used in the soundtrack of the film ‘The Passion of the Christ’ (2004). In the same year, Baktagir was awarded by the European Cultural Foundation