LaLa Land

I've been enjoying some wonderful music here in Istanbul. First of all, I get to live with Bob Beer and hear his gorgeous voice and saz playing. Last Tuesday, Bob's friend, Yvonne Hunt, was in Turkey to deliver a paper on Greek folk dance at a symposium. We were walking along Istaklal Caddesi (dodging large machinery and potholes while it is being repaved) and stumbled across a concert by Erkan Oğur and İsmail Hakkı Demircioğlu. We took a right down a side street to the theater, bought our tickets, and found our seats just in time to see the show. Erkan played mostly kopuz and a little cura. They played lots of lovely vocal pieces and encouraged the crowd to sing along -- a great night!

On Tuesday I went with Bob to his weekly work stint at Saz Aletleri, a music shop specializing in sazes where Bob does some translation work. The owner, Hasan, took me to his storage room where the saz bodies age. The bodies must age for at least 5 years; here, Hasan points to some bodies that are 40 years old.










Yvonne was back in town after her symposium, so we went with her and her friends Cenk and Jaini to hear Selim Sesler at Araf Bar. What a hot night of music! I love this bar -- great view of Istanbul and you can just grab a seat right by the band or dance your bum off! Always a treat! This group provided the music for the German film "Gegen Die Wand" (Head-On), an excellent movie about Turkish immigrants in Germany that was rated the best movie in 2005 by MSN/Newsweek. Check it out!