Category: Culture/Art

Turkish promoter to survive Winehouse blow, says rival

Turkish promoter to survive Winehouse blow, says rival

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

TUBA PARLAK

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

The cancellation of Amy Winehouse’s Istanbul show may cost its promoter Pozitif between at least 50,000 and 100,000 liras, the company’s competitors tell the Hürriyet Daily News. There are risks in handling the troubled singer’s show, they say, but express their faith in Pozitif’s strength to survive the blow

The cancellation of British singer Amy Winehouse’s Monday concert in Istanbul could cost its promoter, Pozitif, tens of thousands of euros due to a lack of insurance coverage, according to a number of sector representatives.

A spokesperson from the organizing company said Tuesday that they had been unable to find an insurance company to work with because Winehouse’s concerts were classified in the “high-risk” category. Businessmen from the entertainment sector also said the company’s losses could total between 50,000 and 100,000 Turkish Liras.

Although Winehouse returned the payment she had received for the Istanbul show, the company will still bear a loss on the venue booking, technical equipment rentals and various peripheral arrangements, the spokesperson told the Hürriyet Daily News by email Monday. She added that she could not yet provide the press with figures concerning the company’s loss.

Winehouse canceled her concert in Istanbul, as well as another performance set for Wednesday in Athens, after being booed on stage during a Saturday appearance in Belgrade in which she appeared to be severely intoxicated. The Serbian date was the singer-songwriter’s first scheduled concert in a 12-stop European summer tour.

Speaking to the Daily News on condition of anonymity by telephone Monday, a businessman in the sector who promotes international concerts in Istanbul said local insurance companies’ policies did not cover cancellation issues; therefore, the organizing companies had to work with EU-based insurance companies.

“And there are a lot of determinants here in calculating the premium you are supposed to pay when buying the policy. But the most important of all is the risk factor. Amy Winehouse is infamous for last-minute cancellations or her scandalous stage performances. Therefore, the premium that the company asks must be very high,” he said.

On Tuesday, he said the company’s minimum loss was 50,000 to 60,000 liras.

The general manager of another company in the international music events promotion business told the Daily News on condition of anonymity on Tuesday that he believed Pozitif’s loss would total a minimum loss of 100,000 liras.

‘Blow to Pozitif won’t be negative in the long run’

“However, the company is a very well-established actor in the sector; they will survive the blow. Plus, the Winehouse show is not their only show for the summer. Moreover, because the company has well-rooted relations with suppliers in this sector, it will not be pushed into making obligatory payments stemming from the cancellation, like reimbursements or compensation,” he said.

Pozitif is also the promoter of Istanbul-based music festivals Rock’n Coke, Efes Pilsen One Love and the Miller Festival and has also organized a number of concerts and music events over the past 20 years.

If either Winehouse or her agency – or both – wants to make a stage appearance in Istanbul in the future, they will not contact another promoter, he said. “If this show is going to happen, it is going to happen through Pozitif.”

Pozitif’s spokesperson also expressed the company’s belief in the Winehouse show. “We have not lost all of our confidence in her. We absolutely want to make that show happen, either in the next months, or the next year. We are still in,” she said.

via Turkish promoter to survive Winehouse blow, says rival – Hurriyet Daily News.

June 23, 2011
Iranian Researcher writes on Thuluth Petroglyphs of Turkey

Iranian calligrapher and researcher announced the publication of a book on Petroglyphs found in Turkey’s Istanbul inscribed in Thuluth script. According to him, this book is written both in English and Persian and is perhaps one of the first works ever written of the petroglyphs of another country.

IBNA: Seyyed Mohammad-Vahid Mousavi Jazayeri said: “The Thuluth Petroglyphs of Turkey’s Istanbul” will be published in cooperation with some other researchers and deals with a comparison of Thuluth scripts found in these petroglyphs with other historical calligraphic styles including the Kufi script. The book will be soon released in Persian and English for the use of epigraph experts and petroglyph researchers.”

He continued: “Now in layout stage, the volume is among the first researches ever written by Iranian experts on petroglyphs of other countries.”

Mousavi Jazayeri tends to expand his research in the future to the inclusion of the graphology of old coins, manuscripts and historical epigraphs. “Prior to this,” he continued, “we were working on the Naskh scripts found on the tombstones of Turkey’s Istanbul.”

Among his previous publications are “Coin Treasure: Mirror of History and Art in an album of museum coins of Hossein Heydarzadeh in Yazd” including images of 24 coins from Islamic periods and Kufi coins from the Omavid to Nastaliq coins of Zand period.”

He added: “These coins are inscribed in Kufi, Naskh, Thuluth and Nastaliq and are from a large span of 1100 years of history. The selected Kufi scripts found on these coins are in a variety of simple to more decorative styles.”

Other books of Mousavi Jazayeri include: “Encyclopedia of Kufi Script”, first volume; “Script and Caligraphy” in three volumes: Kufi Script, Naskh and Thuluth Styles, and Typography which is written in English and awarded the UNESCO medal.

“The Thuluth Petroglyphs of Turkey’s Istanbul” will be soon released by Aban Publications.

via Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) – Iranian Researcher writes on Thuluth Petroglyphs of Turkey.

June 23, 2011
Amy Winehouse cancels rest of comeback tour

LONDON – Troubled British singer Amy Winehouse has pulled out of all the concerts on the rest of her comeback tour following a disastrous performance in Serbia, her spokesman said Tuesday.

Amy Winehouse has canceled her comeback tour. Photograph by: Handout, Files Read more:

Winehouse, who has battled drug addiction and has received treatment for a drinking problem, mumbled her way through Saturday’s set at Belgrade’s Fortress festival before she was booed off stage.

The 27-year-old “Back to Black” singer initially pulled out of festival shows in Istanbul and Athens but now her management has cancelled all her remaining gigs.

Her spokesman said: “Amy Winehouse is withdrawing from all scheduled performances.

“Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen.”

In the run-up to her live return, Winehouse spent a week at an addiction treatment clinic in London, reportedly at the suggestion of her father, Mitch, over concerns that she was drinking too much before her shows.

She had also been due to appear at Spain’s BBK Live festival in Bilbao, Switzerland’s Piazza Grande in Locarno, Italy’s Lucca festival, Switzerland’s Paleo Festival in Nyon, Nova Jazz and Blues Night in Wiesen, Austria, and Poland’s Bydgoszcz Artpop Festival over the coming weeks.

Disgruntled fans at the concert in Belgrade described the singer’s performance as a “scandal” and a “disaster”.

Winehouse left the stage twice during the 90-minute set, with many fans showing their displeasure despite her band’s attempts to calm the crowd.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

via Amy Winehouse cancels rest of comeback tour.

June 23, 2011
Mayor to spend week in Turkey

Johnson hopes to establish cultural exchange tie with city

Written by

Bill Campbell

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. left the country Monday night, bound for Turkey on a weeklong trip seeking a “sister city” relationship with the municipality of Kahramanmaras.

The city of 412,000 sits in the Mediterranean region of southeastern Turkey and dates to 1000 BC. It is known as Turkey’s ice cream capital.

The cultural exchange trip is sponsored and paid for by the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, city spokesman Chris Mims said.

The TCAE is a Houston, Texas-based agency created to form good relationships between peoples and governments in the United States and Turkey.

It has sponsored events with governing bodies in seven U.S. states, including Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas.

“We are exploring the possibility of establishing a sister city relationship with one of the municipalities in Turkey,” Johnson’s spokesman Chris Mims said.

“Sister city relationships foster economic development opportunities, cultural and diplomatic exchange programs, educational programs and other benefits for the cities who participate.”

Ward 1 Councilman Quentin Whitwell asked for legal guidance on whether an interim mayor should be appointed.

“When the governor leaves the country, the lieutenant governor is automatically appointed interim governor,” Whitwell said. “I think it’s at least a good civics question.”

City attorney Pieter Teuwissen said under state statute, no “acting mayor” need be appointed in this circumstance.

An attorney general’s opinion offered during the health-related absences of then-Mayor Frank Melton said an interim mayor is required only if the mayor is absent for 60 days.

The mayor designated Council President Frank Bluntson for “any signatory matters that require immediate attention,” based on a memo Johnson’s chief of staff Sean Perkins passed out to council members at Monday’s special council meeting. Johnson did not attend.

The memo states the mayor will be “in regular contact with staff regarding day-to-day operations of the city.”

To comment on this story, call Bill Campbell at 601-360-4619.

via Mayor to spend week in Turkey | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com.

June 23, 2011
Photo Flash: Ricky Martin Peforms at Cemil Topuzlu Hall

Broadway-bound Ricky Martin, who will soon appear in the Broadway revival of EVITA, just performed at Cemil Topuzlu Hall in Istanbul. Check out photos of the concert below!

Previews will begin in March of 2012 in anticipation of an April 2012 opening and rehearsals begin in February of next year for the revival of EVITA, starring Ricky Martin and Elena Roger.

Photo Credit: Imago/ZUMAPRESS.com

via Photo Flash: Ricky Martin Peforms at Cemil Topuzlu Hall.

June 22, 2011
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul

Strand Releasing The Kurdish singer Aynur in a scene from the documentary "Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul."

If life were fair and film exhibition better, you could watch Fatih Akin’s musical mystery tour “Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul” while standing up, or, more ideally, while swaying, spinning and shimmying. An infectiously enjoyable survey of contemporary Turkish music, the documentary works as a corollary to Mr. Akin’s breakout fiction film, “Head-On.” A tough-love romance about cultural identity and the sustaining joys of punk rock, that film brought Mr. Akin, a German native born to Turkish immigrants, international acclaim.

This new film feels like something of a gift, as if the director had decided to burn some of his favorite songs for his newfound friends, the world-cinema audience.

To help him with his survey, Mr. Akin, who wrote and directed the film and also served as a camera operator, has enlisted Alexander Hacke, the bassist from the industrial band Einst�rzende Neubauten. Narrating in German, the bushy-faced Mr. Hacke makes a wonderfully appealing guide, partly because he’s an unabashed enthusiast, partly because he’s a genuine character.

The musician is clearly following a path laid out for him by the filmmaker, whether he’s conducting interviews with fellow musicians or roaming the city’s atmospheric streets. Yet while the whole thing could come off as perilously twee, the artificiality of Mr. Hacke’s role and the setup (he checks into the same Istanbul hotel that the hero in “Head-On” stays in) only adds to the film’s unexpected charm.

Like the characters in “Head-On,” Istanbul straddles two distinct, sometimes conflicting and violently contradictory worlds. On both sides of the Bosporus strait, the city brings together the continents and cultures of Europe and Asia in a single geographically unique, heterogeneous package that clearly fascinates Mr. Akin.

“We try to be European,” one musician says early in the film, “but at the same time we’re open to the East.”

The man’s friend, seated next to him in an outdoor cafe, gently smiles at this comment, and then adds his perspective: “He who tries to be European is not European.”

The musician doesn’t bother to dispute this, but does contribute a rather more pragmatic final thought: “Wherever we are, we are. And that goes especially for musicians.”

Although the film ranges far and wide musically and geographically � from the tongue-trippingly fast rap of Istanbul to the soulful Romany instrumentals and haunting Kurdish dirges in outlying towns � Mr. Akin never strays far from the idea that making and, by extension, appreciating music is itself identity-forming. That point is underscored by the younger musicians in the film who consistently offer thanks to the most unlikely progenitors, including Orhan Gencebay, one of the most famous film and music stars in Turkey. Mr. Gencebay, seated below a portrait of his younger self, his trademark mustache and dignity securely in place, strums a saz like nobody’s business. Seated nearby, Mr. Hacke records this Turkish legend with the seriousness of a true believer. Though he’s traveled far, he is right at home.

via Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul – Review – Movies – New York Times.

June 22, 2011