Category: Culture/Art

  • On the Naipaul issue

    On the Naipaul issue

    CENGİZ AKTAR

    Born in Trinidad and Tobago, V.S. Naipaul, an author of Indian descent, couldn’t attend the European Writers’ Parliament in Istanbul because of a disruption initiated by Turkish authors – despite coming to the city last July.

    Recently Emir Kusturica, who was invited as a jury member to the International Film Festival in Antalya, was “welcomed” by a similar attitude.

    Forget about the content of debates surrounding the presence of Naipaul at an international literary event, we can be sure that Turkey is written off as an intolerant country by the majority of foreign observers. Foreign media regarded both issues as part of the clash of civilizations, some considering intolerance as justifiable and some others unjustifiable.

    Let’s now turn to the master. Naipaul is a typical “white Indian.” His thesis regarding Islam appeared concurrently with Salman Rushdie but developed in a different direction. Roughly, he claims that Islam destroyed the cultures of pre-Islamic civilizations that were converted to Islam. For this reason, says Naipaul in his excellent English, Islam is a quasi-totalitarian religion. The plea of the converted people is the main theme of Naipaul’s two books which he wrote after traveling to Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Pakistan. In his book “The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief,” on Islam in Black Africa, Naipaul also sets out with a similar prejudice. He asserts Islam is a religion of and for Arabs only; therefore, every nation but Arabs are converts who were harmed by Islam. With such a thesis Naipaul directly ends up in the laps of the most archaic Islamophobia.

    The claim of Islam being a totalitarian religion is quite old. Is there only one single interpretation of Islam? Does Christianity not consider pre-monotheistic beliefs illegitimate? Is it possible that Naipaul, coming from British culture, doesn’t know the odd experiences of Black Africans who were converted by force to Christianity as much as he knows of Black Africans who converted to Islam?

    Obsession with Islam

    In this context, the country Naipaul examined the least is India; the real source of his obsession. Let us recall his attitude regarding the Babri Mosque attack.

    The Babri Mosque in the city of Ayodhya in Fayzabad was built in 1527-28 following the invasion of the subcontinent by Babur Shah in the 16th century. It was demolished by radical Hindu militants because it was constructed on a holy site, known as the birth place of the Indian divinity Rama. In a subsequent revolt, around 2,000 people died. Before and after the attack, the mosque had become a source of conflict between Muslim and non-Muslim Hindus, just like the al-Aqsa/Temple Mount in Jerusalem between Muslims and Jews. Coincidentally, last October the Indian judiciary announced the verdict on the Ayodhya raid and divided the holy site into three but the holy structure of the Muslims remained in the territory of non-Muslims.

    Our author didn’t condemn the Ayodhya disaster once, and acted insolently by saying that it was the result of Hindus’ “creative passion!”

    Naipaul is a leader in Islamophobia and has gained the fame that came along with it in the West. Other Islamophobic performers who go back and forth between scandals and provocations while peddling occasional pseudo-scientific claims are Taslima Nasrin of Bangladesh, who lives in Sweden; Ugandan-Indian Irshad Manji, who lives in Canada; Walid Shuabat of Palestine, Wafa Sultan of Syria and Ayaan Hırsi Ali of Somalia, who all live in the United States; Anwar Sheikh of Pakistan, who lives in Britain; Afshin Elian of Iran, who lives in the Netherlands; and Necla Kelek of Turkey and Bassam Tibi of Syria, who live in Germany.

    However, the way to deal with this trend is not to ban the freedom of expression of its representatives in Islamic countries. Otherwise, there remains no difference between Naipaul’s Islamophobia and pro-ban groups who do not want him to visit a Muslim neighborhood.

    In this, Voltaire’s words, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it,” should be the norm.

    The European Writers’ Parliament, convened recently in Istanbul as part of the European Capital of Culture, was a perfect forum to discuss all these. But that didn’t happen. What a missed opportunity!

  • Istanbul hosts world music festival

    Istanbul hosts world music festival

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    The Istanbul World Music Festival, which is an important aspect of the 'Golden Routes' project by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, will host concerts to be performed by artists from various countries, highlighting the importance of intercultural dialogue.
    The Istanbul World Music Festival, which is an important aspect of the 'Golden Routes' project by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, will host concerts to be performed by artists from various countries, highlighting the importance of intercultural dialogue.

    The ‘Golden Routes’ project, organized with support from the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, is presenting the Istanbul World Music Festival starting Friday. The festival, which is continuing until Dec. 17, will feature songs performed by artists from different nationalities in different languages, proving the universality of music

    The Istanbul World Music Festival, which is an important aspect of the ‘Golden Routes’ project by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, will host concerts to be performed by artists from various countries, highlighting the importance of intercultural dialogue.

    Bringing together artists from around the world, the Istanbul World Music Festival, an important aspect of the “Golden Routes” project, is beginning Friday.

    From Spain to Ukraine, from Macedonia to Hungary and from Germany to Serbia, songs that are sung in different languages, melodies inspired by each other and artists that convey their local music to universal values are coming together for the Istanbul World Music Festival.

    Organized by Pi Production with support from the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, “Golden Routes” outlines the importance of intercultural dialogue and the roles of travelers and artists in establishing such dialogues. Launched in 2008 with “Traces of Jules Verne” and continuing with “In the footsteps of Piri Reis,” the adventure completed its third phase with “In the footsteps of Evliya Çelebi.”

    At a press conference held over the weekend to launch the festival, Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency head Yilmaz Kurt said Istanbul had the chance to be widely known on a large scale under the title of European Capital of Culture in all aspects and that the concerts, which will continue until Dec. 17, would convey the cultural aspects of the city on the musical stage.

    ‘Sounds of Mediterranean’ at opening concert

    The first concert of the World Music Festival will take place at the Istanbul Congress Center on Friday night as Maria del Mar Bonet of Spain and Savina Yannatou of Greece take the stage to convey the enthusiasm, sorrow and melodies of the Mediterranean.

    Burhan Öçal, a world-famous percussion master, and Alexey Botvinov, an extraordinary pianist, will perform together for the first time Saturday at the same venue for their interpretations of Bach’s magnificent Goldberg Variations.

    Balkan Winds since Evliya Çelebi

    The third concert of the festival will take place Dec. 10, injecting a Balkan air into Istanbul. The concert at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress Center will present some of the most colorful artists of the Balkans as Kosovar Suzan Kardeş and the Bekriya Band share the same stage.

    “The queen of the gypsies,” Esma from Macedonia, as well as the Koçani and Family Orchestra, which have appeared in some of Emir Kusturica’s most immortal films, Sevdah Reunion from Mostar andBulgarian clarinet master Ivo Papazov will also appear on stage for the Balkan-infused show.

    The last concert of the festival will gather artists from three cities. Kalman Balogh with the Gipsy Band from Hungary, Henning Schmidt from Germany and Zülfü Livaneli from Turkey will present a special repertoire comprised of music from three great cultures on Dec. 17 at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress Center.

    Music notes from Schmidt’s piano will mix with tunes from the bells of Balogh and the Gipsy Band, while legendary writer and musician Livaneli provides the vocals.

  • Abba to give a concert in Istanbul

    Abba to give a concert in Istanbul

    abbaMusicians of famous Abba Group will give a concert in Istanbul on December 13 in Istanbul within the scope of “Good Music in Town Festival”.

    Ulf Anders Hilmer Andersson and Mats Sture Ronander, the musicians of ABBA, will take the stage in Halic Congress Center with their “Abba The Show”.

    ABBA was a Swedish pop music group formed in Stockholm in 1972, consisting of Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1983.

    ABBA sold over 375 million records worldwide, making them the fourth best-selling popular music artists in the history of recorded music. They still sell two to three million records a year. ABBA was the first pop group from a non-English-speaking country to enjoy consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. As well as reaching the top of the charts in different countries like Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru among others, the band also released a compilation of their hit songs translated into Spanish.

    During the band’s existence, Fältskog and Ulvaeus were a married couple, as were Lyngstad and Andersson – although both couples later divorced. At the height of their popularity, both relationships began suffering strain that led ultimately to the collapse of first the Ulvaeus-Fältskog marriage (in 1979) and then of the Andersson-Lyngstad marriage in 1981.

    In the late 1970s and early 1980s these relationship changes began manifesting in the group’s music, as they produced more introspective lyrics with different compositions. After ABBA split, Andersson and Ulvaeus achieved success writing music for the stage while Lyngstad and Fältskog pursued individual solo careers with varying success.

    ABBA’s music remained steadily popular until several films, notably Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, revived interest in the group, spawning several tribute bands.

    In 1999, ABBA’s music was adapted into the successful musical Mamma Mia! that toured worldwide and had a movie version released in 2008, becoming the highest grossing film in the UK at the time.

    The group was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 15 March 2010.

    via Focus on Travel News – Abba to give a concert in Istanbul.

  • Fire of Anatolia coming for single Istanbul show

    Fire of Anatolia coming for single Istanbul show

    ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

    The Fire of Anatolia will take the stage on Istanbul’s Anatolian side Saturday after a long break.

    fire of anatolia takes a break in istanbul 2010 12 01 lThe Fire of Anatolia dance troupe’s is taking a break from its world tour to stage a show in Istanbul, Saturday at 9 p.m. at the Bostancı Gösteri Merkezi.

    The well-known Turkish dance troupe has entertained 20 million people in 85 countries and 275 cities and hosted thousands of domestic and foreign tourists during its years of domestic and international travel.

    The troupe has performed few shows in Istanbul because of its extensive world tour program. The show, The Fire of Anatolia Evolution, will be staged thanks to huge demand from audiences in Turkey’s largest city.

    Following the Istanbul show, the troupe will continue its world tour in Amman, Romania and China.

    Fire of Anatolia General Art Director Mustafa Erdoğan said they had staged many shows and had finished a heavy summer schedule successfully.

    “We have taken the stage almost everywhere in the world over 11 years. We have drawn great attention everywhere. We try to do our best to represent Turkey abroad and we are proud of our success,” he said.

    Erdoğan said the Istanbul show would be a short break from their world tour.

    “We will meet Istanbul’s audience after a long time. We generally take the stage on the European side, but can’t now because of the fire at our Istanbul show center last year. Instead the best stage for our choreography is on the Anatolian side at the Bostancı Show Center. We will present an unforgettable performance to art lovers there,” he said.

    Tickets for the show are available at Biletix.

  • Sibil’s Armenian songs echo on Istanbul’s İstiklal

    Sibil’s Armenian songs echo on Istanbul’s İstiklal

    Young Armenian artist Sibil’s album is on the market. In the album she is accompanied by leading Turkish artists. Sufi music master Mercan Dede performed the most beloved song of the Armenian world, Giligya, with his reed flute and was accompanied by zither virtuoso Göksel Baktagir. Cenk Taşkan (Majak Toşikyan), who has produced legendary Turkish pop music songs, arranged the album. ‘Turkey is progressing so fast. It is unbelievable that an Armenian album is played on the streets,’ Sibil says

    sibil8217s armenian songs echo on the istiklal street 2010 11 30 l

    Sibil is accompanied by reed flute master Mercan Dede and zither master Göksel Baktagir on her album. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

    One of the most successful names of Sufi music in Turkey, Mercan Dede, has made the dreams of an Armenian artist come true. In recent days, an impressive sound has been heard in the music markets on İstiklal Avenue. Some think this different language is Kurdish or Laz, but actually the songs are Armenian.

    Armenian artist Sibil’s album, on the Ossi Music label, is an example of solidarity between Turkish, Armenian, Greek and diaspora Armenian artists. Sibil is accompanied by Mercan Dede with his reed flute and Göktel Baktagir with his zither. Greek artist Petro has made a first by performing Armenian music legend Gomidas’ song “Der Voğormya” (God Mercy Us) in Turkish style. Jimmy Philipossian from the diaspora is on the album with his lyrics. Majak Toşikyan, who is known as Cenk Taşkan and has made legendary Turkish pop music since the 1970s, arranged the album.

    “My dreams have come true thanks to this album,” said Sibil, speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. She said that while she was a child her mother warned her not to speak Armenian on the street. “I discovered Armenian music at the age of 14 with a cassette from abroad. I cried for hours when I listened to the first Armenian song. We were not able to express our identity freely in those years.”

    Sibil said she believed Turkey was democratizing fast. “We left all those hard years behind. I can make an Armenian album and it is played on the street, it is unbelievable.”

    Very hard times

    Although she has had great interest in music since her childhood, Sibil did not get a conservatory education. “My family hesitated to send me to conservatory because of my identity. I had very hard times. Even though I did not attend conservatory, music has become a part of my life.”

    Soprano Sibil, who is known for her successful solos in the Armenian society, said she owed her voice to Armenian church choirs in Istanbul. “Even though it is called church choir, each Armenian child gets serious music education in these choirs and improves their voice. The choir has given many things to me, but I always loved popular music.”

    Mercan Dede finds Sibil

    Sibil’s dreams came true thanks to a coincidence. The Surp Vartananz Armenian Choir, of which she is a member, shared the stage with Turkish pop music stars Nükhet Duru and Sezen Aksu in the mid-2000s. These concerts drew great attention from the Turkish media. Sibil accompanied the two artists on stage in both concerts. Later on the concerts were released on CD.

    “How could I know that this CD would be a turning point in my life?” Sibil said. “In 2006, Mercan Dede was expected to give a concert in a cathedral in Paris. When an Armenian choir quit the concert at the last minute, he remembered and found me. It was unbelievable that I took the stage in this concert as a big coincidence.

    “I have never dreamed of releasing a CD one day with such big artists, but it is real now. I will always appreciate all of them.” They came together and gave life to Armenian music with me. Also, Mercan Dede accompanied the most beloved song of the Armenian world, Giligya, with his reed flute. In the album listeners will find the harmony of Turkish and Armenian motifs.”

    ‘I fear the dream will end’

    Sibil, who has been working in the financial sector for many years, explained how she felt when she heard her own voice on the streets. “I feel like I am in a dream, I fear that the dream will come to an end when I wake up.”

    Sibil said her friends at work gave her an unforgettable surprise when her album was released. “Everyone had my album on their desk and were listening to my songs. I returned to my childhood, to those days when I could not tell my name freely. I was really affected.”

    “We came together in this album for a common goal and gave life to Armenian songs,” she said. “I want all my songs to reach all around Turkey.”

    Sibil’s album will be released in Europe and the U.S. in the coming days.

    VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
  • University opens Ottoman maps exhibition in Vatican

    University opens Ottoman maps exhibition in Vatican

    A Turkish university inaugurated an exhibition of maps drawn by two Ottoman geographers in the Vatican on Tuesday.

    piri reis katip celebi

    The Civilization Studies Center of İstanbul’s Bahçeşehir University opened “The Ottoman Worldview from Piri Reis to Katip Çelebi” exhibition at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in the Vatican in coordination with Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The exhibition will stay open until Dec. 8.

    The exhibition displays reproductions of maps drawn and used during the Ottoman era, until the end of the 17th century. The maps will shed light on the Ottoman worldview. Despite being prepared in the traditional style, the works of Piri Reis are portolan maps based on his personal experience, observations and earlier maps from the East and West. Although they lack longitude and latitude lines, they are as precise as scientific maps for practical naval purposes since they have a projection center and are adjusted for variation.

    After the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 2009 the Year of Katip Çelebi, the exhibition was staged at the California State University at San Bernardino, UNESCO Hall in Paris and the Damascus National Museum as well as in Aleppo and Riga. The exhibition will also be on display in Europe, America, the Middle East and Central Asia in the coming months.

    An Ottoman-Turkish geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 in Gelibolu, in western Turkey, Piri Reis is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his “Kitab-ı Bahriye” (Book of Navigation), a book that contains detailed information on navigation as well as extremely accurate charts describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea.

    He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map (prepared in 1513) was discovered in 1929 at Topkapı Palace in İstanbul. The most surprising aspect was the presence of the Americas on an Ottoman map, making it the oldest known Turkish map showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still in existence. (The oldest known map of America that is still extant today is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500, which is held by the Naval Museum [Museo Naval] of Madrid.)

    The most striking characteristic of the first world map (1513) of Piri Reis, however, is the level of accuracy in positioning the continents (particularly the relation between Africa and South America), which was unparalleled for its time. Even maps drawn decades later did not have such accurate positioning and proportions. In 1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map, of which a small fragment showing Greenland and North America from Labrador and Newfoundland in the north to Florida, Cuba and parts of Central America in the south still survives.

    An Ottoman scholar, historian and geographer, Katip Çelebi is known for his encyclopedic contributions, a bibliographical dictionary in the Arabic language, with over 14,500 entries in alphabetical order. This work served as a basis for the “Bibliothèque Orientale” by Barthélemy d’Herbelot de Molainville. He was also the author of many works in the fields of geography, history and economics.