Bookshops and the state of a nation

Can you tell the state of a nation by the quality of its bookshops? My question is prompted by a recent visit to France where, once again, I was astounded by the range and quality of books on display in the country's bookshops. It wasn't just in the university city of Nantes, it was also in provincial towns such as La Roche sur Yon where the independent Mediastore carried a range of books and music that not only put to shame Britain's retailers but also proved irresistible. So from a major display of books commemorating 1968 I splurged on Les années 68 which provides a world view on that extraordinary year.

An equally impressive music range yielded, among other CDs, Taksim Trio, a new release from the Turkish label Doublemoon which has featured here before. The trio of Hüsnü Senlendirici on clarinet, Ismail Tunçbilek on baglama and Aytaç Dogan on quanun dance between traditional, arabesque, jazz and classical styles in an album that is categorised as world music but which is really quintessentially Turkish. The 'taksims' of the title refer to the improvisations on the album, but Taksim Square is also the public space in Istanbul where private political frustrations become public demonstrations. Taksim Square features on the album sleeve above and also in my photo below of a political demonstration, which I took when I visited Istanbul last year.

Sadly, the political climate in Turkey is once again volatile following this week's arrest of two retired army generals as part of an investigation into a series of high profile killings. The plot also, allegedly, included a plan to murder the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk who controversially stepped out-of-line by writing about the 1915 ethnic cleansing of Armenians. Which seems to confirm that books, if not bookshops, are a good measure of the state of a nation.


More French passion for books here, possibly the best record store in the world here and lots of Turkish resources here.
Taksim Square photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

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