A celebration of Turkey

Excellent article by Jon Lusk in today's Guardian about contemporary Turkish music. The World London festival this weekend showcases music from Turkey. Featured artists include Ayse Tutuncu, Goksel Baktagir, Sabahat Akkiraz, and Muslum Gurses, and all those links will take you to YouTube videos.

The World London festival coincides with the tense Turkish general election on Sunday (July 22). There are many Overgrown Path readers in Turkey, and we wish that country a safe, and democratic, election.

My two photos are of polychrome underglaze Yznik tiles in the Mosque of Rüstem Paşa in Istanbul, which we visited earlier this year. You will find more about Turkey by following this path.


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Sarkozy - a minor change to Europe's borders

'I want an integrated Europe, in other words, a Europe that has borders ... Turkey is in Asia Minor' ~ Nicolas Sarkozy, French President-elect.

'The selection panel for the 2010 European Capital of Culture have recommended that the German town Essen and the Hungarian city of Pécs should share this title together with a third one, Turkey's Istanbul' ~ UNESCO World Heritage website

Turkey – politics and music at the crossroads

In March we were in Turkey and were held spellbound by the country’s unique cultural and religious mix. But in recent weeks we have watched with increasing alarm as the country’s religious and secular factions have moved on a collision force, culminating in this week's massive demonstrations in Istanbul.

Taksim Square is the political nerve centre of Istanbul. Today's violent May Day demonstration took place there, and I took the photo below of a small demonstration in the square in March. Taksim is the Turkish word for division, and was the rallying cry of Turkish Cypriots who supported the partition of Cyprus into Turkish and Greek enclaves. As I write Turkey is under threat of a military coup, and, in a frightening reminder that tyranny is never far away in the Balkans, it was an abortive coup in Cyprus in 1974 that ended the military dictatorship in neighbouring Greece. If anyone needs reminding of the political and cultural horrors that accompany Balkan military coups they should read my recent article on Mikis Theodorakis.


In these trying times we must not forget Turkey’s flourishing arts and music scene, and that Istanbul will be the European City of Culture in 2010. Today I’m featuring two contemporary music CDs to remind us of the flourishing creative life that is at risk from the current political developments. The first CD, Maziden, features the bouzouki, the instrument made famous in Mikis Theodorakis’ celebrated score for Zorba the Greek. Bouzouki player Orhan Osman’s background truly celebrates Turkey’s unique cultural mix, he was born in Germany, raised in Greece, and now lives in Turkey. There is a long history of conflict between Greece and Turkey, including the dispute over Cyprus mentioned above, but the upbeat Maziden well and truly bridges the divide between the two countries.

The cosmopolitan influences on the music of Orhan Osman (photo below) range from the Balkans, India, and France to the Caribbean, and support comes from musicians playing everything from traditional Turkish instruments to pad effects. Dancing is a way of life in the Balkans, and this is as close to party music as you are likely to find On an Overgrown Path. It is on the Turkish Double Moon label which has some other very interesting musicians, including Mercan Dede who featured in my first post on Turkey. There’s more to the bouzouki than Zorba’s Dance, and Maziden is well worth exploring. Just follow this link for audio samples of all the tracks.

The header photo, with Hagia Sophia in the background, was taken by me from a ferry crossing the Bosphorous between Europe and Asia, a journey that sums up the crossroads on which Turkey is located. The ferry departs from from Kadikoy Quay in Istanbul, and the cover of my second featured CD, ECM’s The Wind, carries an image of the same quay. The Wind is a series of improvisations on Turkish and Persian themes arranged by Iranian kamancheh (spike-fiddle) player Kayhan Kalhor (photo left & audio samples via previous link) and baglama (long-necked lute) player Erdal Erzincan, and they are supported by Ulas Özdemir on bass baglama. The improvisations flow into each other, with the two lead instruments reworking and repeating different phrases. Recorded in a studio in Istanbul, The Wind is straight out of ECM’s top-drawer; the overall mood is mellow, but there are also some harder driven passages that are on the jazz side of World Music.

These two CDs remind us how Turkey stands at a cross-roads of continents, cultures, religions and politics. The priority for the country today is to maintain political stability. This can only be achieved if the Turkish army doesn't meddle in politics and the Kemalist principle of laiklik, with religion staying out of government in return for government staying out of religion, is retained. In return the EU members, and France, Germany and Austria in particular, need to abandon their view that the EU is an exclusively Christian club, and must take a more broadminded view of Turkish membership.

* YouTube links for Kayhan Kalor and Orhan Osman and follow this link to see my other articles about Turkey at the crossroads
First two photographs (c) On An Overgrown Path 2007. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Just your typical rebellious teenager ...

I have written several articles recently praising contemporary Turkey. Today's Guardian reports on the flipside:

"Five Turkish punk rockers and their agent face up to 18 months in jail for insult after a bureaucrat took offence at their song criticising the country's unpopular university entrance exam. The head of Turkey's central examination board, OSYM, Unal Yarimagan reportedly smiled when he first saw a clip of OSYM, Kiss My Arse by Deli (mad), a group from the western city of Bursa. "I'm a tolerant person, but that didn't stop me doing my duty and checking it wasn't breaking any laws," he said. Last month, an Ankara prosecutor said it was, and a court case is due to begin on May 2.

"It's ridiculous," says the lead singer and lyricist, Cengiz Sari, 24. "I was 17 when I wrote that song. I was just your typical rebellious teenager." Sensitivity to criticism is a common trait of Turkey's great and good. Since March 2005, when the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sued a cartoonist who portrayed him as a cat tangled in wool, he is believed to have earned at least £100,000 in damages. The cartoon is below.


Turkey's understanding of freedom of expression surfaced again last month when a judge ordered the website YouTube to be blocked. YouTube has a central role to play in Deli's story. Until last June, few had heard of the band. It was then that a fan uploaded a clip of himself lip-synching his way through OSYM. "Let me tell you something:/ screw your exam system," Hako mouthed over a sound track reminiscent of the Sex Pistols. Posted days before 1.5 million Turkish teenagers took the much-criticised university entrance exam, Hako was an overnight sensation."

For more on this story from Istanbul follow this link, and here is the video five young Turks may face jail sentences over:


Now, for a different view of Turkey take this overgrown path.
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The Art of Byzantium

This photo essay portrays a double miracle. Not only are the Byzantine mosaics and frescoes in the Chora Church in Istanbul truly miraculous, but their survival through the city’s tempestuous history is a second miracle. The Church of St Saviour in Chora is today known as the Kariye Camii (Mosque) Museum. Originally part of a monastery dating from the early 5th century, the church takes its name from the Greek word ‘chora’, meaning land outside a city, although the church has long since been swallowed up by the sprawl of urban Istanbul. The church was rebuilt three times between the 6th and 12th centuries, with two of these reconstructions following earthquake damage. It was then ransacked, but not destroyed, during the Fourth Crusade in the 13th century, when forces from the western Christian churches pillaged Orthodox Constantinople.


The miraculous transformation of the Chora Church came in the years following the defeat of the Crusaders and the return of Constantinople to Byzantine rule. Between 1315 and 1321 the interior was decorated in the mosaic-work which can be seen in my photos, and which represents the finest example of the Byzantine renaissance. The work was endowed by the wealthy statesman Theodore Metochites, who was prime minister, treasurer and personal adviser to Andronikos II Palaiologos. Guide books refer to St Saviour of Chora as ‘Metochites’ Church’, but this is something of a misnomer. Metochites was sponsor of the work, but it was actually executed by unknown hands. It is probable that the sublime mosaics and frescoes are the work of a single artist who left a mysterious graphic signature on several of them.


The mosaics are ambitious narrative cycles depicting the life and ministry of Christ, and the life of the Virgin Mary, while the frescoes are confined to the side chapel which acted as a mortuary chapel, and depict the Last Judgement and the Harrowing of Hell. Metochites himself appears in the mosaics, and, as befits a prime minister, he is shown modestly presenting his church to Christ. But in a 14th century version of the cash for honours saga Metochites lost his fortune and was forced into exile when his boss Emperor Andronicus was thrown out of office. Metochites was allowed to return to Constantinople in 1330, and lived as a monk in the Church at Chora until his death two year’s later.


But the turbulent history of Chora did not finish with Metochites endowment. In 1453 Christian Constantinople was conquered by the Muslim Turks, and in 1511 Chora Church was converted into a mosque, and a minaret was added. At this point the Wikipedia entry is in error in saying that: “due to the prohibition against images in Islam, the mosaics and frescoes were covered behind a layer of plaster”. In his book Museum of Chora, Mosaics and Frescoes (ISBN 9757039438) the archaeologist İlhan Akşit explains: “After the conquest, the mosaics of the church which had been converted to a mosque were not touched. During the restoration in 1765, although there were small architectural additions, the mosaics were protected as they were. However, these mosaics were covered by wooden curtains during the daily prayers, as it is forbidden to pray in Islam in the presence of any form of picture.” It was this use of wooden curtains, rather than plaster, that allows us to appreciate the true miracle of Chora Church today.


In 1948 the church ceased to be used as a mosque, and the American Byzantine Institute started a ten year restoration programme. In 1958 Chora Church reopened as Kariye Camii Museum, and we were able to witness its miracles when we visited it in March 2007 when all the photographs here were taken. Flash photography is forbidden to protect the frescoes and mosaics, and the photos were taken by me, hand-held, using available light on a Casio EX-Z120 digital camera.


Now playing – Yasemin, 20th century music for the oud played by Necati Çelik. The Arabic word al’ud meaning ‘the wood’ is the root for both the words ‘oud’ and ‘lute’. The oud originated in ancient Egypt, and migrated to the West via the Crusades, to become the lute. Played with a plectrum, the oud has eleven strings and does not use frets. The absence of frets allows the microtones of the traditional Arabic Maqam modal system to be played. The concept of microtones, which originated in the 14th century, has re-emerged as a tool for contemporary composers – see my article on James Woods’ Hildegard.

Necati Çelik (below) was born in the Turkish province of Konya. This is home to the Sufi Mevlevi Order that I wrote about recently, and Çelik has performed in the Mevlevi rituals as an oud player. Five Turkish composers are featured on the CD. They range from one of the leading figures of Turkish music, Tanburi Cemil Bey, who died in 1916, to Reşat Aysu who was active until the end of the 20th century.

This Overgrown Path has travelled from the 5th to the 21st century. So here to finish on a suitably topical note is a link to a YouTube video of oud player Mehmet Polat. And here is a link to another website dedicated to the oud.

Now see the art of the mosque in Istanbul
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The art of the mosque

No two modes of architecture could be more different from one another than the Muslim and the West Christian. West Christian architecture in its early phase is filled with the craving for weight and massiveness; and in its second phase, the Gothic, in that for a spectacular liberation from that weight in a skyward ascent ... Moslem architecture is quite the opposite. A mosque is to be a court, a square, a market-place, lightly built to hold a large concourse of people. Allah is so great that nothing human can vie with Him in strength or endurance ... Even the Moslem castles, large though they are, give the effect of being light and insubstantial. But a Mosque is also a place for the contemplation of the Oneness of Allah. How can this better be done than by giving the eyes a maze of geometric patterns to brood over? The state aimed at is a sort of semi-trance. (Pliable - See my reference to the Mevelevi Order below). The mind contemplates the patterns, knows that they can be unravelled and yet does not unravel them. It rests therefore on what it sees, and the delicate colour, the variations of light and shade add a sensuous tinge to the pleasure of cetainty made visible.

Gerald Brenan writes above in his 1950 book The Face of Spain about the art of the Mosque. This photo essay celebrates a sublime example of that art, the Rüstem Pasa Camii in Istanbul.


The mosque was built by Rüstem Pasa, son-in-law and grand vezir of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566). Although Rüstem Pasa was one of the wealthiest nobles in the Ottoman Empire at the peak of its power he had to reflect his role as a servant of the Sultan by building a mosque that was subordinate in size, if not in beauty, to the sultan’s great mosque.


Mimar Sinan was the architect of the Rüstem Pasa Camii. Born a Christian in Anatolia, from either a Greek or Armenian background, Sinan was conscripted into Ottoman service in 1511, and converted to Islam. He was the chief Ottoman architect to four sultans, and his most famous buildings are the great Süleyman Mosque in Istanbul, and the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. Sinan worked in seismic, as well as political, fault zones, and his buildings are famous for their earthquake resistance. His extraordinary output included 146 mosques and 57 universities, a track record that even Norman Foster can’t beat, although Mimar Sinan doesn’t have any airports in his portfolio


Rüstem Pasa chose a site alongside the Golden Horn in the Eminönü district of Constantinople, and at the foot of the hill crowned by Süleyman’s great mosque. Compact in size, but beautifully proportioned, Rüstem Pasa Camii is decorated with exquisite Iznik faience tiles which are notable for the use of red pigments, seen in my photo above, as well as the famous blue. Although in the popular spice bazaar area the mosque is not on the main tourist routes, and it takes some determination to find the entrance.


Rüstem Pasa Camii is one of the finest examples of the art of the mosque, and it was built at the peak of the Ottoman Empire. But sadly Rüstem Pasa was involved in the political intrique and murder that resulted in Selim the Sot - or drunkard (1566-1574) ascending to the throne on Sultan Süleyman’s death in 1566. Selim’s priorities were carnal rather than cultural, and his reign was the start of the long decline of the Ottoman Empire. We are very fortunate that many fine examples of the work of Mimar Sinan and other great Ottoman visionaries survive to remind us of this glorious period of Islamic art.


Now playing - Mevlevi Müzigi, the music of whirling dervishes. Mimar Sinan’s design for Rüstem Pasa Mosque follows the Ahaadith, and makes no provision for figurative art or the performance of music. But the exact position of the Qu’ran on this is not precise, and there are many fine examples of the creative arts from Ottoman culture. The Mevlevi is a Sufi Order founded by the followers of Mevlana Celalleddin-i Rum (left) in 1273 in the Konya province of Turkey. The Mevlevi Order is also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their practice of whirling to celebrate Allah. During the peak of the Ottoman Empire the Mevlevi Order produced many musicians and poets, and much of the stereotypical “oriental” Turkish music heard in the West originated from the order. Islam is usually perceived to be repressive of women’s rights, but this period saw the emergence of women in the creative sector, with Ayat Sweid identified as the first female artist.

In 1925 the Mevlevi Order was outlawed at the start of the secular revolution in Turkey. But in the 1950s the government realised the cultural and tourist value of the Whirling Dervishes, and performances in Turkey and overseas were reintated. The Istanbul Music and Sema (Whirling Ceremony) Group was founded to bring traditional music and spiritual ceremonies to a wider audience. They perform Turkish classical music, Tasavvuf (mystical) music, and Sema ceremonies (Whirling Dervish rituals) in historically authentic performances. In striking contrast to the doctrines of Islamic fundamentalism these Mevlevi rituals are centred on "human love", "brotherhood" and "tolerance" as advocated by their founder 750 ago. Follow this link link for music and video samples from the Istanbul Music and Sema Group. Also recommended is Laleh Bakhtiar's book Sufi, Expressions of the Mystic Quest (Thames and Hudson ISBN 050081015).

Now read how music and books reflect the crisis in Islam
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I'm at the Pudding Shop

Modern Istanbul's complex geography renders it all but unmappable: three dozen districts swelling over seven hills, no single centre, fingered by water, jumbled in time. Age dilutes its fluidity. I can't keep a grip on its currents of slippery politics, of chaotic transport, of residents drawn together to argue, talk and trade. Its light is maritime, a sea lies over each shoulder, yet the city is 2,000 miles from any ocean. A ten-minute stroll takes me from a sleepy Greek fishing village to a Hapsburg cul-de-sac reminiscent of a Klimt painting. Across the horizon surge waves of new world tower blocks. In the shifting expanding spiral of my wanderings, I find its anarchic streets, its shifting colours, its millions of voices, its dreams of a legendary past at once foreign and familiar.


I'm at the Pudding Shop, the first meeting point on the hippie trail to Kathmandu. In 1957, two brothers from the Black Sea, Namik and Idris Çolpan opened the Lale Pastanesi across from Istanbul's Blue Mosque. For a couple of years, well-to-do Turks stopped by for frothy black kahve and honey-soaked baklava topped with green pistachios. Then, the tiny, open-fronted patisserie attracted the attention of the early overlanders, both because of its central location and their sugar-craving munchies. Overnight, the travellers made the Lale their place, renaming it the Pudding Shop. Outside its door, London double-deckers and fried-out Kombis parked along the Hippodrome. Pop music played in its garden. The well-to-do Turks stood outside, their mouths agape, watching their sons and nephews drink coffee with paradise-bound freaks in Apache headbands and paisley waistcoats.


Today, the cafeteria is indistinguishable from a dozen of its neighbours, apart from a few faded sixties photographs tacked on the rear wall. Beneath them, a handful of Lycra-clad Danish civil servants procrastinate over dessicated pizzas and köfte meatballs. At the next table, a sunburnt Englishman nurses an early Troy Pilsner.

An extract from the highly recommended Magic Bus by Rory MacLean, (Penguin ISBN 0670914843). The photo above shows my wife surrounded by children from a Muslim school near the beautiful church of Kariye Camii. Contrary to received wisdom the pupils were encouraged to talk to us and ask about Western life, and their teacher was happy for me to talk to the 13 year-olds about the Armenian genocide.

Turkey has many problems, but the open faces of those young people and their delight in asking and answering questions are quite a contrast to Western schools today. Here in the UK the children are taught not to speak to strangers, and attitudes are moulded by the paid-for media, not face-to-face debate. Travelling for our teenagers means a Health and Safety approved £7199 ($14000) Gap Year package, complete with personal travel adviser. Yes, we certainly found Istanbul refreshing. Unlike some, this blog is normally 100% animal-free. But here to end this section is a happy hound in a Beyoğlu street who hasn't yet found the need for a personal travel adviser ...


Now playing - Ahmet Kanneci plays Turgay Erdener. Born in 1957 Turgay Erdener studied at Ankara State Conservatory. He has written for a wide range of forces, and his output includes a symphony dating from 2003. This Sony CD features four works for solo guitar, all played by their dedicatee Ahmet Kanneci whose studies included both architecture and music. My photo shows Erdener at the piano with Kanneci standing. Modern but accessible music, the three folk tunes are particularly beautiful. If you like the seriously under-rated Preludes and Fugues for guitar by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco you will enjoy the music of Turgay Erdener. A great discovery, but the problem is buying it if you aren't travelling to Istabul. The best I can offer is this Turkish online retailer.

Now follow me on the hippie trail in 1967, then chill with a visit the Pudding Shop website for a virtual kahve and baklava, and end with a massage at our favourite hammam (Turkish bath).
All Istanbul photos taken by Pliable in March 2007 by Pliable. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

... is back from Istanbul

Calligraphy by Yazi Sanatcisi

Now playing - Su by Mercan Dede. Contemporary culture in Istanbul is really jumping ahead of becoming European City of Culture in 2010. We ate at restaurants like Amedros in Sultanahmet that would not be out of place in London or New York. The new Istanbul Museum of Modern Art in a converted military warehouse on the waterfront with its exhibition of work from the Magnum Photos agency is sensational. And there is a music scene to match. If you don't know Mercan Dede's contemporary take on Sufi music here is an introduction in his own words, or even better listen to his music on his website, and on YouTube:

Mercan Dede (photo below) believes that when you put digital, electronic sounds together with hand-made, human ones, you can create universal language, capable of uniting old and young, ancient and modern, East and West. It’s a bold claim, but the Turkish-born and Montreal-based musician/producer/DJ has the career and the music to back it up. When he takes the stage with his group Secret Tribe, he hovers at the side behind his turntables and electronics, occasionally picking up a traditional wooden flute, or ney to float in sweet, breathy melodies, while masters of the kanun (zither), clarinet, darbuka (hand drum) and whatever other instruments he’s decided to include that night, ornament his grooves and spin magical, trance melodies to match the whirling of the group’s spectacular dervish dancer, Mira Burke (follow this link for video).

This contrast between electronica and classical or folkloric arts cuts to the core of the Sufi philosophy that guides this one-of-a-kind artist. “Those things are not really separate,” says Dede. “The essence of Sufism is counterpoint. Everything exists with its opposite. On one side, I am doing electronic music. The other side of that is this really acoustic, traditional music.” Dede doesn’t just bring in any traditional sounds and sights as adornment to his techno beats. He is ever on the lookout for new collaborators, and they might come from any tradition, any country, any generation. For Secret Tribe’s U.S. debut in January, 2004, he flew in three, teenage prodigies of Turkish classical music from Istanbul and two of the pieces they played were improvised during the concert.

Now read Philip Glass predicting World Music is the new classical.
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Books and music reflect the crisis of Islam

A report on Arab Human Development in 2002, prepared by a committee of Arab intellectuals and published under the auspices of the United Nations, reveals some striking contrasts. “The Arab world translates about 350 books annually, one-fifth of the number that Greece translates. The cumulative total of translated books since the Caliph Mamoun’s time (the ninth century) is about 100,000, almost the average that Spain translates in one year” …

Islam is one of the world’s great religions. It has given dignity and meaning to drab and impoverished lives. It has taught men of different races to live in brotherhood and people of different creeds to live side by side in reasonable tolerance. It inspired a great civilization in which others besides Muslims lived creative and useful lives and which, by its achievement, enriched the whole world. But Islam, like other religions, has also known periods when it inspired in some of its followers a mood of hatred and violence. It is our misfortune that we have to confront part of the Muslim world while it is going through such a period, and when most – though by no means all – of that hatred is directed against us.

Two reflections from The Crisis of Islam by Bernard Lewis,(Phoenix ISBN 0753817527). This concise book is an expansion of a New Yorker article first published in November 2001. Bernard Lewis is the Professor of Near Eastern Studies Emeritus at Princeton University. His books have been translated into more than twenty langauages, including Arabic, Persian and Turkish.

Now playing – The Fall of Constantinople sung by a veritable fixture On An Overgrown Path, Cappella Romana directed by Alexander Lingas. The ancient capital of Byzantium was caught between Latin West and Islamic East, and this CD captures the peak of that civilization with Byzantine chant and polyphony from the majestic ceremonies in the great Christian cathedral of Hagia Sophia. But the music also reveals the paradox of the Near East as it triumphantly asserts the dominance of the west, while fervently pleading for the healing of religious divisions.

It was this very paradox that was the downfall of Byzantium, and on 29th May 1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks, and that jewel of Eastern Christianity, Hagia Sophia, became a Muslim mosque. The fall of Constantinople is recognised on this inspirational CD with laments by Manuel Chrysaphes and Guillaume Dufay. Chrysaphes was the Lambarios at Hagia Sophia at the time of the fall, and he expressed his desolation by setting the verses from Psalm 78 using kalophonic chant, which are sung on the CD by Cappella Romana. My header picture, from the excellent Byzantine.net, shows Hagia Sophia as it might appear today, had it not become a mosque, and later a tourist attraction. In this visual reconstruction the minarets have been removed and the life-giving cross restored to the dome.

Professor Lewis’ book and Cappella Romana’s CD shed much needed light on the crisis of Islam. But before anyone gets too self-righteous about those thought-provoking statistics on book availability in the Arab world, they should dwell on the fact that this important CD from Cappella Romana’s is not available in Europe, I had to import my copy from the US.

Tonight the Overgrown Path literally leads to Constantinople and we fly out to Istanbul. Tomorrow I will be standing under the great dome of Hagia Sophia. There will be a few day's break in posts while we revel in the legacy of Byzantium, so please visit some of the other excellent music blogs in my sidebar until I return.

Now, read about the composer who set the psalms in Ottoman Turkish, and hear the result
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