Category: 2018

AFP - RELAXNEWS (English International Version)
July 9, 2018 Monday
ENTERTAINMENT
Festival takes music deep into Istanbul's centuries-old heritage
It's an early summer evening at Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, the maze-like
warren of alleyways crammed with shops that has been the city's
trading hub for over half a millennium.
But this time, there are no traders' voices beckoning to travellers to
come and haggle over the price of a carpet. Nor is the air filled with
the pungent whiff of oriental spices being offered to passers-by.
As the evening light streams through the upper arch windows, it is
music that resonates through the bazaar; oriental wind instruments
like the Turkish ney and Armenian duduk, the lute-like oud and the
Balkan accordion.
For the first time in its history as an epicentre of trade and
commerce in Istanbul, the bazaar is being used for a concert in the
prestigious annual summer Istanbul Music Festival run by the Istanbul
Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) -- the city's premier musical
event since its creation in 1973.
- 'Grand' acoustics -
It's a constant source of frustration to music lovers in Istanbul that
the Turkish megapolis lacks a world-class, purpose-built music venue,
especially for classical and traditional music.
But the festival uses the city's multicultural and multiconfessional
heritage to make up for what it lacks in modern infrastructure,
staging concerts in churches, synagogues, historic universities and
now the Grand Bazaar.
"It is a very intelligent way to use this kind of historical space for
concerts and bring in people for reasons other than their original
function," said Kudsi Erguner, a celebrated Turkish traditional
musician and one of the great living exponents of the ney.
"Usually, people come here to buy things," he added, before dazzling
the audience with his command of the long, flute-like instrument.
Despite the venue not being built for the purpose, he praised the
acoustics of the Grand Bazaar, known in Turkish as the Kapalicarsi,
meaning Covered Market.
"The space is curved, there is a nice resonance and a very nice
differentiation of sound," he added.
- 'Connections with identity' -
The Istanbul Music Festival, which focuses on classical music but
includes high quality traditional music and jazz, has taken concerts
to venues like the Neve Shalom Synagogue, the St Anthony Roman
Catholic Church and even the platform of Sirkeci Train Station, the
legendary terminus of the Orient Express.
The use of the venues, and the music played inside them, is a
celebration of multicultural heritage in a city where the presence of
Jews, Armenians and Greeks, as well as other minorities alongside the
majority Muslim population, is a key part of its urban identity.
Their populations were greatly diminished by 20th century tragedies
such as the deportations and massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire from 1915 -- seen by Armenians, but not Turkey, as a genocide
-- and the mob rioting directed at the Greek minority in 1955.
Today, these buildings are a symbol of the proud presence that
Turkey's minorities maintain in the former Constantinople, once the
capital of the Roman, Byzantine and then Ottoman empires.
"Istanbul has been the capital city of three empires and home to three
major religions. They all left their landmarks in the city," director
of the Istanbul Music Festival and deputy director general of IKSV,
Yesim Gurer Oymak, told AFP.
"A festival should also underline the historical heritage of the city
where it takes place and make connections with its cultural identity,"
she added.
- 'Tolerance and harmony' -
This year saw a concert held for the first time in the Neve Shalom
Synagogue, a key place of worship for Istanbul's Jewish community,
which was hit twice by deadly attacks -- first in a 1986 gun attack
and then a 2003 bombing blamed on Islamist militants.
Istanbul may not have an ultra-modern concert hall like Paris or
Hamburg but some of the finest acoustics in the city are to be found
in historic buildings which also double as concert venues.
Possibly the finest venue for an orchestra in the city is the Hagia
Eirene -- a former Byzantine church, now a museum -- that dates back
to the 6th century and where audiences can enjoy classical music with
pin sharp acoustics marred only by the occasional swooping pigeon.
At the concert inside the Grand Bazaar, its historic walls echoed with
a celebration of Istanbul's cultural heritage, bringing together songs
of Armenian, Ladino, Jewish as well as Turkish origin, led by
traditional musician Hakan Gungor.
"This is the first time we perform a concert in the Grand Bazaar. It
is a very important place with very authentic shops and our music is
also very authentic," said Cag Ercag, one of Turkey's top classical
cellists.
Oymak said there were still locations in Istanbul where she dreamt of
holding concerts, in particular a concert of "tolerance and harmony"
at the historic Sultanahmet Square -- which is flanked by the Hagia
Sophia and Blue Mosque -- fusing elements of Western and Eastern
music.