Bio

Nightjar is Lloyd Degler (UK) and Mehmet Ali Arslan (TR), a multi-instrumental alt folk/world duo embodying a contemporary expression of traditional influences from east and west. They started out in 2015 in Lund, Sweden, where they shared a love of odd time signatures, grunge, jazz, and various traditional musics of the world. Their first release as a duo, an a cappella arrangement of Turkish folk song Ne Ağlarsın Benim Zülfü Siyahım, reached the attention and praise of a wider Turkish audience and has to date received over 20,000 plays on SoundCloud. When they performed at Goodnight Sun in Malmö in 2018, their original material was warmly received, and live recordings of Ne Ağlarsın were shared via Turkish social media channels, one in particular gaining over 36,000 plays. The channels were bursting with admiration for this modern interpretation of a cherished traditional music which is often overlooked by younger musicians in the country today.

Nightjar performed in Konsertkirken in 2015 as part of Copenhagen Jazz Festival and were hosted by Nordic House in Reykjavik, where they were on the bill for its 2018 summer programme in the greenhouse. They also appeared in various constellations at smaller events in Malmö and Lund, but when Lloyd moved back home to the United Kingdom in 2020, the pair began to concentrate more on their solo efforts, with some collaboration by way of adding various instrumental and vocal parts to each other’s recordings. Lloyd has performed in various venues across the UK and taken part in a number of smaller festivals, opening for artists such as Nick Oliveri and Ferocious Dog, and recently joining UK-based shanty group Kimber’s Men. Mehmet notably appeared at NGBG Gatufest, Malmö, in 2023 and at the Internet Archive’s Mini Concert Series, online, in 2025 as a solo act, and Kulturnatten i Höganäs in 2024 in a trio format.

Now 10 years on from their beginnings, with a number of solo releases behind them and various ensemble projects, and with the feeling of having left behind something with great potential, Nightjar has decided to reunite and plans to make a limited tour of the Nordics in the summer of 2026. With a release of two tracks in winter 2025/26 – one traditional Irish ballad, one Turkish folk song – they are now applying to festivals and venues in Sweden, Denmark and Norway where they have a modest following and connections. They will roll out another two singles before their album release in spring 2026.